1001 Nights in Hueco Mundo
by Bankai Betty
Summary: Inoue puts her creativity to the test during her captivity. Where the heck is her rescue team? Rampant OOC
1. And in This Corner

Inoue stared at the walls of her room as she had for the last week since arriving in Hueco Mundo. Nothing had changed. Little had happened. At least she had the comfort of knowing Aizen would spare her friends.

Despite that, she didn't want to be there. Not really.

The door opened and Ulquiorra stepped in, his usual stoic expression replaced by one of slight amusement. Over his arm was draped a material of lazuli and powder blues, slight hints of silver glinting as it swayed. His green eyes fastened on her.

"Aizen-sama has requested your presence," he said.

Inoue rose from her seat on the couch, looking at the door. He was alone, uncharacteristic of him. "Where's Thing One and Thing Two?"

"They won't be required anymore. I'm seeing to you now."

She didn't like the sound of it.

He held up the material by its hanger, a slight smile crossing his lips at her uneasy reaction.

To Inoue it looked more like something off an _I Dream of Jeannie_ episode, with loose-fitting pale blue chiffon pantaloons and halter, overlaid with a deep blue-violet cropped vest and girdle.    

She shook her head, putting her hands on her hips. "I am _not_ wearing that ... that _harem_ outfit."

The smile inched across his face. "My orders are that you wear it of your own freewill, Inoue, or I help you change into it. By all means, please resist."

Her head lifted with defiance. "I didn't agree to _this_," she said, gesturing to the wispy material.

He looked at the scant clothing. "It looks comfortable, to me."

"Then you wear it."

His smile fell. "If you insist in refusing, I'd be more than happy to assist --"

Inoue stepped back as he stepped forward. "Heck, no." She glared at him, and then snatched the hanger out his hand. It weighed almost nothing. "Now get out."

He nodded and headed for the door. "I'll be back in two minutes."

When he was gone, Inoue held the hanger up higher, shaking her head.

_The pale blue halter looked sturdy enough_, she thought, estimating the seams and straps. She took a cautious look around the room, not certain her every movement wasn't being watched. It took a few minutes to pull off her shirt and finagle into the halter. She eased her considerable bosom into the fabric, fastening the heavy duty hooks at the back that were hidden beneath the wide band.

Actually it was kind of comfortable, but a little chilly. The chiffon was thin, but not transparent, and altered between a soft blue to iridescent lavender when she moved.

With misgivings, she shucked off her pants and took a moment to hitch up the pantaloons. They were of the same material, except with a girdle of the darker lapis velvet, matching the vest. It was trimmed with silver tube beading at her waist and sides, fitting just below her navel. She tried to pull it up higher, but only succeeded in becoming uncomfortable. She kneeled to tie the drawstrings at her ankles.

_What the heck was going on with Aizen?_ she wondered. This was not part of her arrangement. _Had the Winter War been fought already? Had Soul Society lost?_

_No way,_ she thought, straightening. _No way Aizen could have won. _

She shrugged into the velvet vest, smoothing the silver beading at the arm openings and edges. It added a little bit of modesty to the halter.

She looked up as the door suddenly opened and Ulquiorra stepped in. This time the smile spreading over his face wasn't timid or brief.

"Come along, Inoue."

She gritted her teeth at the blush rising over her cheeks. "Yes, El-Queero."

They wove through the semi-lit halls for several long moments until finding an unassuming single door at the end of one. Ulquiorra opened it with a flourish, bowing and sweeping his arm to suggest she pass through.

Inoue found herself outside in a square courtyard, enclosed by exterior walls of the complex, effectively partitioning the two acre parcel of lush green grass fringed with marble walkways and tiled overhangs running the length of all four sides. In the center was a dais, four posts hung with unbleached cotton swags that shaded it from the sun overhead, the partial shade screening it.

She hadn't seen the sun or grass in a week. It was almost worth the change in apparel to be outside again.

Almost.

At the raised dais stood Aizen, and at one corner near a column was Gin. She recognized his lurking posture anywhere.

Aizen stood at the second of the two steps of the dais, standing akimbo, looking to her.

Inoue took a deep breath and crossed one of the cobble footpaths to the men.

"Ah, so glad you could join us," Aizen said, his innocuous-looking smile in place.

"I don't see how I had much choice," she said, pulling her vest tighter around herself.

"You didn't."

He offered a hand to her, but she avoided his touch.

"Very well," he said, stepping back and beckoning her closer.

She approached slowly, stepping to the top of the wooden base. The dais was littered with large satin pillows strewn about the perimeter, stacked higher at the corners, the swagged drapery partially shading the platform. In the center was a loo table of teakwood, with cushions in shades of blues and purples surrounding it.

Aizen looked her over with evident appreciation. "Doesn't she look delicate, Gin?"

Inoue's lip curled at the remark, and she scowled at Gin's sly smile as it twitched.

"Oh, yes."

Inoue stood still, keeping her distance from Aizen. "Our deal was --"

"I'm familiar with our deal, Orihime." He smiled. "It doesn't mean we can't pass our time as friends."

"We're not friends," she said, troubled at the turn of circumstances.

"We're not exactly enemies." He nodded to the pillows at one side of the low table. "Please sit down, Orihime."

She hesitantly took a seat at one of the lavender pillows. He looked different, unlike she'd ever seen him before. He was still dressed in the captain's shihakuso of Soul Reaper, but the colors were wrong. The black was still black, but now trimmed with emerald green piping at the sleeve edges. The captain's coat over it was white, but had a double band of teal running over the entire length of the hems. She hadn't seen the back.

She glanced to Gin leaning at one of the corner columns. He was similarly attired, except his had a single band of teal at the hems. His katana was replaced by the longer odachi he wore slung to one hip, the hilt barely visible at his obi.

She looked to Aizen as he seated himself across from her and laid a tanto to the side of the two-tone mother-of-pearl checkerboard that was centered on the table.

At least, that's what it looked like to Inoue.

She looked from the short sword to Aizen. He smiled.

"You're probably bored by now, Orihime." He brought out a sandalwood box carved with a rampant dragon on its lid. He opened it and began to set out small game pieces.

"I don't play chess," she said.

"This isn't chess."

She watched the pieces, each about three inches high, amount to one side of the board on the polished table.

 "But it's similar," he added.

To her astonishment, the pieces held a familiarity. She leaned closer, recognizing the carved miniature of one with spiky hair. "Captain Zaraki-san," she said lowly.

"No; that's Abarai," Aizen said. He set another figure on the table from the box, shaking it slightly. A tinkling bell sounded from within. "This is Zaraki."

She looked from one figure to the other. The differences were obvious, seeing them both together. In all there were sixteen pieces, carved of black obsidian. Aizen pushed them to her side of the table.

"Your squad, Orihime." He raised an eyebrow, holding up one of the few female figures. "The queen."

She frowned, studying the figure. "That's me."

"Yes. The most powerful figure on the board. You may move her three spaces in any direction. Her capture is the winning move."

Her eyes shot to his. "I told you, I don't play chess."

"This is not chess, Orihime."

He set down the playing piece and held up the pointy-headed piece again. "Zaraki is your lieutenant." He tapped two more figures. "Your thirds."

She frowned, taking the two game figures. One short, one vaguely familiar. Isshin. "Captain Hitsugaya? Kurosaki-san?"

"Yes." He slid seven more playing pieces across the table to her. "Your additional seats, through ten."

Inoue momentarily forgot her modesty and leaned over the table, investigating each figure closely. Renji, Ikkaku, Rukia, Shunsui, Byakuya, and Matsumoto were easily recognized. The last, Ichigo, gave her pause.

Uneasiness welled in her stomach. "I don't understand."

"You will." Aizen set five more carved figures before her. "Your disposable pieces."

Her eyes fell over Momo, Hanatarou, Hisagi, Nanao, and Ishida. She looked back to her seated figures. It took her a moment to tell Rukia apart from Hanatarou.

She was still lost in her own introspection as he set up a second set of carved ivory figures. She looked up as he finished. She recognized several, including Aizen himself, Gin, Kaname, Urahara with a small cat at his foot, Ulquiorra, and assorted Arrancar, Espada, and Vizards. Most she didn't recognize.

Her eyes rested on a very female figure. It was dressed in a revealing outfit, large bosom barely contained in a strappy bikini-type top, its long drape of a loincloth attached precariously at each hip by a slim few chain links. She recognized it after a moment.

"That's me!" she chirped, pointing at it and blushing.

Aizen smiled, nodding. "That's my queen."

Inoue snatched up her own queen. "You can't have the same queen as me."

"It's my game. I make the rules."   

Her fingers closed possessively around the figure. "Why don't I have a king piece?"

His eyes fell over the carved figures on her side of the table. "You have no set king, Orihime. You may choose a new king for each game."

She frowned. "A new king?"

"Yes."

"For each game?"

"Yes."

"Anyone?"

He nodded, sitting back in his cushions. "Anyone."

Her soft brown eyes watched him warily for a long moment. She set her queen, carved after herself in a simple skirt and blouse, on the board. She chose another figure and set it beside the Queen.

"I choose this one."

Aizen nodded at the miniature Ichigo in shinigami garb, sword at his back.

"Very well."

"Your lordship."

They both looked to the attendant who had appeared out of seemingly nowhere at the base of the dais.

Aizen looked to the small form who was still bowing. "Yes?"

"Your attention is needed in the war room."

Inoue looked to Aizen. He returned her attention, then rose and smiled. "My regrets, dear Orihime. I must postpone our game until later. Familiarize yourself with the pieces. We'll play another day."

Aizen left then, following the slight figure in white attendant apparel to the interior door Inoue had used.

She looked to Gin, who watched her with his unseen eyes, the smirk emblazoned on his face.

Her attention retuned to the game board, looking over the pieces. She found one of the seated pieces and held it up so Gin could see.

He looked at the carved figure of Matsumoto.

His eyes narrowed, his smile drooping.

"That's what I thought," Inoue said, lifting an eyebrow.

Gin leaned against the pillar, crossing his arms.

**A/N: _Forgive me, Kubo-san._**


	2. Game Play

The next time Ulquiorra appeared in her room with the blue outfit draped over his arm, Inoue groaned, sinking back into the couch.

He closed the door behind him, eyes going immediately to her. "You've been summoned, Inoue."

She sighed, looking at the blue material he held. "And if I refuse?"

He nodded, a smile beginning at his lips. "Are you refusing?"

Inoue got up and crossed the room to him, stopping a few feet away. "What's it this time? Checkers?"

His usual pensive expression returned. "I have no idea what you and Aizen-sama do to pass your time."

She begrudgingly took the clothing he offered. "Haven't you?"

A grin eked back onto his face. "I can imagine."

She looked him over, eyes hovering on the mask attached to the side of his head. "So, what's that thing made out of? Keratin? Bone? Armadillo plating? Or is it an exoskeleton?"

 His eyes narrowed, the grin dissolving. "You have two minutes to change. Starting now."

Inoue waited for him to leave. He remained. She frowned. "You have to leave," she said after a slight pause.

He nodded. "Ninety seconds."

"Hey!" she called as he headed for the door.

"Don't dawdle."

The door closed and she looked to the scant clothing. She hurried into it, mutedly cursing Aizen and Arrancar alike, discarding her blouse and pants. As she pulled on the vest she took a closer look at the halter top.

This time the middle seam stitching was gathered, pulled tighter, making it droop lower, her cleavage more evident. She frowned, trying to adjust the halter, but it remained revealing.

She didn't remember it being that way last time.

Again Aizen met her in the courtyard at the base of the dais where her bare feet were warming on the cobble footpath. The typical bland smile was on his face, and he again wore the altered robes of Soul Reaper captain. At one corner pillar of the dais was Gin, his dull smile permanently affixed to his face.

"Ah, Orihime," Aizen said, extending his hand to her.

She shook her head.

He nodded. "Very well. Come sit down."

She bit her lip, timidly accompanying him up the two steps to the platform. The cotton swags were draped a little more over the center of the top of the dais, blocking more of the strong sun. They moved gently in the soft breeze that found its way into the courtyard.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" he said, gesturing for her to sit down at blue and purple cushions around the teakwood table.

"Yes," she said, sitting at the opposite side of the table from him. She looked to the game board and miniature figures on the table, and then to the lavishly etched pedestal bowl of red glass overflowing with a variety of fruit.

He placed the short tanto to the side of the game board on the table and sat down. "How is Ulquiorra treating you?"

Inoue frowned. "Okay."

Aizen nodded, and then pushed the fruit bowl closer to her side of the table. "Help yourself to some."

Her eyes dropped to the game. "You haven't asked me anything about my abilities yet."

He nodded. "We'll get to that later." He looked to the game pieces on either side of the board. "Choose your king, Orihime."

She automatically reached for Ichigo.

"Very well. Set your pieces on the board."

"I don't know the rules."

He began putting his own game pieces on his side of the board. "You'll learn."

She frowned, moving her own pieces into positions to mirror the placement of his. "What are the rules?"

He set the last of his figures on the board. "Do you think everyone has the luxury of going into battle knowing the rules, Orihime?"

She didn't like the sound of that. "I'm at a disadvantage."

He sat back on the cushion, watching her consider the board. "You may take the first turn."

Her brow creased as she leaned over the game. "But I don't know how the pieces can be moved."

"Trial and error."

"That's not a very good strategy," she murmured, her pointer finger resting on Hanatarou in the front row. She hesitantly pushed it from one black square diagonally to another.

"See? Not so hard, was it?"

She sat straighter, glancing to Gin. He stood at one corner, arms crossed, leaning to the pillar in the shade of the swags. "Why don't you play him instead of me?"

Aizen smiled, a movement that didn't reach his eyes. "You're much more attractive."

Her cheeks colored at the comment. "I don't like wearing this."

His eyes fell over her for a long moment. "You look nice in it."

She watched him move the white figure of Tousen -- a third seat from the back row -- forward two spaces and one space to the side, jumping the Vizard in front of it. "Can my third seateds move like that, too?"

"Of course." He waited for her to take her turn. "So can your lieutenant."

She looked to the small figure of Zaraki, and then to her third seats, Hitsugaya and Isshin. "Why is Isshin-san dressed as a captain?"

"Because he is." Aizen feigned surprise. "Oh? You didn't know?"

She moved Momo from one black square to another diagonally. "Does Kurosaki-kun know?"

"I imagine he does by now." He took Momo from off the board.

Inoue sat straighter. "Hey, what did I do wrong? You said I could --"

"I said Hanatarou could; not Momo."

She looked to the small black obsidian figure at Aizen's side of the table. "Why not?"

"That's a rule."

From the corner she heard Gin chuckle.

She pouted, watching Aizen glance over the board. She took a shiny red apple from the fruit bowl and crunched into it, her thoughts on the small figure he'd removed from the game board.

He played the white figure of Ulquiorra forward two spaces from his front row so that it was one space away from her Hisagi in her front row.

She swallowed the bite of apple. "Can Hisagi-san move diagonally?"

"He's collateral, so yes."

She frowned, looking to Ishida at the far side of the front row. "Like a pawn?"

"Yes." He sat back, leaning on the pile of cushions behind him.

Moving Hisagi would put Ulquiorra in a straight line with her king behind in the last row. Not moving Hisagi would probably result in his elimination, and it would be only a matter of moves before Ichigo was removed off the board anyway.

He saw her attention remain on Ichigo. "The king is immaterial, Orihime."

She debated her move, and then looked up as a white appareled messenger approached down the cobble footpath.

Aizen look to the bowing messenger. "Yes?"

"Your lordship, excuse me, but your presence is needed in the war room, sir."

Aizen nodded, waving the messenger away. "You're dismissed." He took the tanto from the table and looked to Inoue. "Interrupted again. I hate to disappoint you so, dear Orihime."

"I'm not," she said before thinking. The apple paused as she raised it to her mouth. "I mean ..."

He nodded, smiling. "Gin, if you would be so good as to entertain Orihime for me."

Inoue looked to the smirking figure at the pillar.

"My pleasure, Captain."

Aizen left then, and Gin stepped around the cushions strewn about the table. He drew the odachi from his belt, making Inoue recoil slightly.

"Yip!" she yelped, nearly dropping her apple, flinching.

He shook his head at her reaction and set the long sword across a couple of cushions to his right, and then took a seat opposite her. He sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees, leaning over the table, studying her until she pulled back slightly.

"What do you think of Ego?" he asked through the cagey grin.

She looked to Aizen's form disappearing into one of the doors in the surrounding building that enclosed the courtyard. "You actually call him Ego?"

"No, fool. The game is called Ego."

"Oh. It confuses me."

"You're easily confused."

She watched him for a moment in the high sun of the day. "Weren't you a captain in Soul Society?"

"Yes." His smile twitched.

"How could you follow Aizen-sama? It's mutiny."

He cocked his head to one side. "Is it?" He shook his head slowly. "It's the wisest choice."

She watched him, eating half the apple before she spoke again. "I don't want to play this game anymore."

"I know." He sat back, spreading his arms to either side of the cushions behind him.

She frowned, unaware exactly where his eyes were looking on her. "Can I go back to my room?"

He nodded. "Finish your apple first."


	3. Losing

The days passed slowly for Inoue, caught between unannounced visits from Ulquiorra, the sporadic and puzzling board games with Aizen, and a growing sense of regret.

Actually, she thought the meetings with Aizen were about once a week, but she couldn't be sure, not with her time spent in the closed interior of Aizen's compound in the world of Hollows. She'd lost track of all time in her capture.

Not quite capture; she'd gone willingly with the highly placed Arrancar, just as any sacrifice would have. She was unsure how highly placed Ulquiorra _was_, but on the Ego board he was Aizen's fourth seat. That had to mean something.

Inoue frowned, curling her legs onto the couch as she thought about the game pieces. It could mean nothing at all, the pieces and their designated seats and orders. Momo had been the renegade shinigami's vice-captain in Soul Society, and she'd been nearly slaughtered at Aizen's own hand.

She wasn't sure the former captain wouldn't sacrifice his whole fleet of Arrancar and Espada alike to further his assault on Soul Society.

She thought back on the game. She wasn't at all sure it was called Ego. That was just what Gin had called it. And he had proved to be the worst kind of traitor. How much faith could she put in him to tell the truth about anything?

A noise from the door of the room made her start and look to it. Her thoughts of games and designations scattered as Ulquiorra closed the door behind him, the all too-familiar blue garment draped over one arm.

"It's time, Inoue."

She slowly stood, sighing. "Don't you ever play the game, Ulquiorra-san?"

"Which game is that?"

She crossed the floor and stood a few feet from the Arrancar. Sometimes, every now and then, she sensed something sad in his green eyes. Not often, but sometimes.

"How many games are there?"

He held the blue garment higher, closer to her. A brief flicker of susceptibility crossed his eyes, but it was shut down immediately.   

"I don't know what you're talking about, Orihime."

"Oh, casual, are we now?" She took the hanger from him.

"Inoue," he said slowly. "Now hurry up. You have two minutes."

"After you leave."

He nodded and left the room, closing the door.

She wasted no time undressing. She frowned at the halter top as she attached the hooks in the back of the band. Edging the drooping décolletage was a new row of beading, this time of tiny rice-shaped opalescent pearls sewn into the pale blue material. She frowned at it, attaching the hooks and adjusting it to fit as modestly as possible. She pulled on the pantaloons and noticed a matching row of pearls trimming the top of garment where it fit below her navel.

She was quite sure the pearls hadn't been there before.    

Ulquiorra opened the door to the courtyard, as usual, and Inoue stepped out into the blinding sunshine. It was the warmest day yet in the time she'd been allowed outside. She looked to the dais where Gin was standing at the steps. She looked around, but Aizen wasn't to be seen anywhere. She took a few steps to the side, near the wall under the tile roofed overhang, a suffocating feeling catching her.

What little she had heard of the ex-captain of the Third Division was enough, and to be left alone with him even for a short while was unnerving. The benign-looking smile, unfailingly creepy, beguiling into a false sense of quietude. The talk she'd had with Matsumoto that night long ago had given Inoue a little insight not only into her own soul, but the feelings the Tenth Division Lieutenant had for the silver haired man. _He must have been a very different person at one time,_ she thought. _But now?_   

_Much like Aizen,_ she thought. Neither man looked like the murderers they were.

She watched him approach, his robes flowing behind him along the cobble walk, the odachi hilt projecting from the scabbard at the white obi. She gathered her courage to resist shrinking away as he neared.

He stopped a few feet away from her on the walk. He stooped, his head cocked to the side, looking at her as she cringed, the small cunning smile at his lips.

"Hello, there, Orihime-chan. Are you coming along now?"

Inoue nodded, willing herself to speak.

"Then come on."

She followed a few feet behind him, trailing at what she was sure an unsafe distance. Actually, she wasn't sure there was enough room in the courtyard to be at a safe distance from him.

He stopped when they reached the dais and gestured to the short stair. She ascended the two steps, feeling his proximity behind her, ready for the point of a knife or sword in her back at any moment.

"Sit down," he said when she stood motionless. "Aizen will be with you shortly."

Inoue stepped among the pillows and cushions but didn't sit down. On the low teakwood table was the game and pieces, the red glass pedestal bowl filled with fruit to one side. A peridot green glass pitcher of clear liquid was to the other side of the board with three matching goblets.

Her eyes rested on the carved obsidian miniature of Ichigo. _'The king is immaterial,'_ Aizen had said. Perhaps she should replace one of the pawns with less maneuverability as the king. After all, Ichigo was her fourth seated; surely that made him a more important piece on the board. _So if the king was immaterial,_ she thought, looking to the white pieces Aizen used, _what did that make his king?_

She couldn't believe Aizen would place himself in such a powerless position, even in a game, and especially one called Ego.

If it was even called Ego.

She glanced to Gin, still standing near the top of the steps at the platform, watching her with his half closed eyes. At this distance she could see their color, nearly, but couldn't decide if they were a very light blue or green. 

She was about to ask him if he'd ever played the game, when he spoke.

"I said, sit down, Orihime-chan."

She nodded, sitting down on a purple cushion. His smile twitched, then he looked across the courtyard as a door opened from the opposite side. Inoue turned at the sound, and saw Aizen approach from another door in the building that surrounded the enclosure. With him was one of the attendants, similarly attired as the other servants who had brought messages during her previous visits into the dais. As they neared, Inoue couldn't tell if the attendant was male or female, its smooth non-gender features a mixture of both, its short posture bent, eyes downcast.

"Ah, Orihime," Aizen said as he stepped up the short stair. "Lovely as usual, isn't she, Gin?"

The fair haired man smiled. "Yes, indeed."

Inoue's eyes stayed on the attendant who had kneeled at the bottom of the step, bowing, its posture unmoving.

Aizen sat across from the table, his attention drifting over Inoue's blue vest and pantaloons as he placed the tanto beside the table. "Very fetching."

She frowned, the look on his face making her shiver despite the hot sunny day. "It's chilly."

"Oh, is it? Hmm. We'll see to that. Perhaps you can win yourself a scarf."

Her brown eyes narrowed. "Win?"

His hand swept before the table. "We're playing a game; winning should mean something, Orihime."

"And what if I lose?" Her tone was troubled.

Aizen looked to Gin. "What if she loses?"

"What has she got to wager, I wonder?" the lieutenant asked, nodding slightly.

Aizen smiled. "Have you anything to wager, Orihime?"

She shook her head slowly, trying to keep her tone steady when she spoke. "No. I don't really want a scarf anymore."

He nodded. "Set your pieces on the board."

Inoue obeyed, her fingers shaky when she did so.

"Join us, Gin," Aizen said.

Inoue tried not to look at the white haired man as he passed behind her set of cushions, removing the odachi as he went. He settled at the stack of cushions to her right, the sword resting at his side. He leaned his elbows on his knees, watching her through his slit eyes.

She set her playing pieces on the board, mirroring Aizen's arrangement on the opposite side. She didn't like the talk hanging around wagering the game's outcome.

"Help yourself to some fruit, Orihime," Aizen said. "Take two pieces."

Inoue frowned, looking at the apples, oranges, pears, and peaches, with grapes draped over the bowl. "Two?"

"Yes. Two."

She took a moment, considering the fruit, and decided on an apple and a peach. She set them in front of her, near the game board.

"Now you have something to lose," Aizen said, the bland smile on his face. "If you lose, I'll require one of the pieces of fruit back, so don't eat both of them."

"Oh. Okay." Inoue sighed in relief. Fruit? _Fruit?_ That she could part with.

"I see you've chosen Ikkaku as your king. Is there any special strategy behind that?"

She looked at the bald-headed game piece, his posture squarely positioned on both bare feet, bo raised behind him in an attack mode. "He's very strong. I think he'd make a good king."

"The king is irrelevant, Orihime."

She looked to his side of the board. "But you're king."

Gin chuckled at this. Aizen remained unmoved.

"But the queen is the most powerful piece on the board. That's what matters." Aizen nodded to Gin, and the lieutenant poured three goblets from the green glass pitcher. He placed one before Aizen and one before Orihime.

"It's only water," Aizen said when she looked at the glass with misgivings. "You may begin the game."

As if to test the rules, of which she was ignorant, she pushed Momo in the front row diagonally from black space to black space. Aizen removed the piece from the board.

"Why not?" she asked, frustration immediately welling within her.

"Not Momo." Aizen moved a Vizard from black to black.

"Can I take that one off the board? Is it mine now?" she asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"That's Risa, and any of your lowest ranked pieces must be in a direct line of diagonal blacks to remove my Vizards."

She looked over her front row of figures, made up now of Hanatarou, Hisagi, Nanao and Ishida. She pushed Nanao from black to black, waiting for the small slender figure to be removed from the board. It was not.

"Is healing the extent of your powers, Orihime?"

She bit her lip against lying. She had agreed to aid him in the Winter War to save her friends, but it didn't mean she had to do all she could to help. "Yes. I'm not a good fighter, and I can't heal every wound."

"But you're not useless." He moved his fourth seated, Ulquiorra, from the back row over the Vizard in front of it two spaces and to the left one to rest one space in front of her Byakuya. "Are you?"

"No. I'm not useless," she said quickly. She hadn't meant to give him that impression. She looked at the Arrancar he'd moved, and then to Byakuya. The other diagonal space was empty, left by Nanao. "Can I move Byakuya-sama to take Ulquiorra-san?"

"Yes."

Inoue's finger rested on the tall figure of the noble family member, hesitating as she looked over the board. "What happens if I do? What will I lose?"

Gin sat back, resting one elbow on the stack of cushions to his side, his fingers curled in his raised hand.

She looked to him, and then pushed Byakuya the spaces, taking Ulquiorra off the board.

"Your first capture, Orihime." Aizen's innocuous smile was in place, and she almost believed it for a moment. "Well done."

She looked to the apple and peach. If she was going to lose, she decided she'd rather lose the apple.

"You may eat one, but not both," Aizen said, watching her gaze settle on the fruit. "There are plenty more, if you're hungry."

After a moment's debate, Inoue took the peach and bit into it. She glanced at the small figure still bowing in the hot sun at the bottom of the steps. It hadn't moved.

Aizen moved the ivory miniature of Gin two spaces forward and two spaces to the side to rest in front of Hisagi.

Inoue paused eating the peach, her eyes going to Gin at the side of the table. _The same sneering smile,_ she thought. _But then, he'd been practicing the art of unchanging reaction for a long time, among those who knew him best._ She chewed methodically, her attention resting on Matsumoto. She glanced at Gin, gauging the slight frown that had replaced his smile.

She pushed Rukia, her seventh seated, two spaces forward to rest before a Vizard in Aizen's front row. She looked to the white figure in clogs and hat with the cat at his feet on the opposite side of the board. "Why is Urahara-san in your squad?"

Aizen smiled, this time genuineness to the expression. "He works for me." He looked over the board slowly.

"There was a foolish king, a long time ago, who trusted all the wrong people," she said, "and ended up losing his kingdom." She nodded when both men looked to her. "He threw away the only person who really cared for him and his kingdom."

"There have been many foolish kings in history, Orihime. I am not one of them." Aizen moved a Vizard from the front row from black to black.

Orihime took another bite of the peach. It was a soft fleshed fruit, mildly sweet, and juicy, with soft fuzzy skin. She looked at her tenth seated figure, Matsumoto, to take the Vizard from its new black spot. She looked to Aizen inquiringly.

He nodded.

She moved Matsumoto to the black space, only to have another of his pieces, the fifth seated Grimmjow, take her.

Gin's frown deepened as the buxom figurine was removed from the board by Aizen.

"The only person who cared about the king was banned from his presence, and the two powerful people he put in charge of his kingdom showed their true colors." She watched him look over the board. "He gave them too much power, and they blinded him and threw him out of the kingdom. His own kingdom."

Aizen's eyes narrowed slightly. "Again, he was a foolish king, Orihime." He moved the playing piece of Gin two spaces forward and two to the right to take her queen.

The bite of peach caught in Orihime's throat and she coughed, one hand covering her mouth.

"I win."

She nodded, her coughing now muted as her throat cleared.

"Drink your water."

She nodded, taking a long drink from the glass, before realizing that neither man had drunk from theirs yet. She looked to each in turn.

"No one is poisoning you, Orihime," Aizen said, reaching for his own goblet. He took a drink, watching her.

She nodded, looking to her queen piece now at his side of the table. He held out his hand, and she put the apple in it.

"Very good." He sat back. "Losing isn't so bad, is it?"

She looked to the apple. "It depends on what you lose. The king lost his kingdom and his sight. I think that's a lot."

"He should never have wagered so much."

She frowned, lowering the peach.

"Noki," he said without looking to the form still bowing at the steps.

The figure rose and climbed the steps, bowing deeply to Aizen, Gin, and Inoue in turn, and then dropped to its knees on the floor before Inoue and unrolled a piece of rice paper.

"No reason to be afraid, Orihime," Aizen said as Noki reached for her foot.

Inoue let Noki place her foot on the paper and draw a stick of charcoal around it. She frowned at the outline of her foot on the rice paper as Noki carefully lifted her foot off and withdrew the paper. Inoue pulled her foot back, surprised at the cold touch of Noki's fingers.

"You may leave," Aizen said.

Noki rose, and bowed to each of them again, and left the dais and back down the cobble path.

"What's that for?" Inoue asked, rubbing her foot where Noki had touched it.

Aizen set the apple on the table and stood, then collected the tanto. "I think slippers are in order. Thank you, Orihime, for an interesting game." He glanced to Gin. "You'll see her back?"

Gin nodded slowly. "That I will."

Aizen nodded to Orihime and exited the dais, following the cobble path to the back from which he'd come earlier. Orihime turned in her cushions to watch him disappear into the single door in the building in the courtyard perimeter behind her. She looked back to Gin.

"Aizen is no fool."

She looked to the peach pit now exposed in the half eaten fruit. "Neither are you. I don't understand why you followed him. What can he offer you that Soul Society didn't?"

His eyes narrowed to mere slits. "Keep your friends close, Orihime-chan, and your enemies even closer."

She frowned. "I don't understand."

He sighed, his sly smile brightening some. "I doubt you ever will." He stood up. "Time to go back."

She got to her feet and yelped off guard when he tossed her the apple Aizen had won.

"You sure are a jumpy one." He stuck the odachi back in its scabbard. "Come along." 


	4. Tweaking Beauty

Inoue thought about Gin's words for the entire week, or however long it was that there was between the games with Aizen.

They still didn't make sense. She understood, after a few days, what they meant to _keep your friends close and your enemies closer,_ but she was still confused. Coming from _him_.

She'd idled her time away thinking about the little obsidian game pieces, one in particular, every line of the figurine etched in her memory. She'd decided against making Ichigo her first choice as king every time. It distracted from her strategy.

Not that she had much of a strategic plan. That was quite impossible, since she still didn't know the rules, or even how all the pieces could move.

She looked to the door as it opened, and sat straighter on the couch as Ulquiorra entered the room. With the blue outfit.

She sighed, standing, her eyes dropping to the pair of slippers in his hand with the blue outfit.

"Aizen-sama wishes to see you, Inoue."

She nodded, meeting him at the center of the room.

"And these also," he said, handing her the slippers first.

She looked at the lapis blue slippers, made of satin, trimmed at the toes with silver beading, edged around the top with iridescent pale blue pearls. She took them and studied them, turning them to see the soles of powder blue leather. "Two minutes?"

He almost smiled. "Two minutes."

She took the blue outfit he gave her and waited for him to leave. When he was gone, she hurriedly changed clothes, folding her pants and shirt to set on the couch edge. She sat down on the cushion and bent to pull on the slippers.

She slid her foot into the first. It was soft and supple, the fit perfect, the satin cool on her skin. Ulquiorra returned as she was slipping her foot into the second. She glanced up at him as she fit her heel into the slipper.

"Very nice," he murmured, and then caught himself, his green eyes locking onto hers. His almost-smile returned to his usual line of non-expression.

Inoue saw something pass over his eyes, which hadn't returned to their usual shielded veneer yet. She angled her foot so he could see the slipper better, the iridescent pearls catching the indirect lighting. "You think so?"

Ulquiorra cleared his throat. "If I were of a mind to comment on a matter such as your slender ankles and gracefully shaped feet, I would say yes."

She pulled her feet closer to herself and stood up, pink tinting her cheeks. "Well, it's a very good thing you're not of a mind to."

He nodded, watching her hold out the blue vest from her chest, frowning at the new line of tiny indigo beads sewn along the trim of pearl, following the contour of the vest's entire perimeter.

"This changes every time I see it," she said lowly.

Ulquiorra lifted an eyebrow slightly. "Does it? Are you sure?"

Inoue looked to him, his indifference solidly locked over his face again. "You didn't notice?"

"No. I didn't."

This time Inoue's feet weren't as warm in the bright, strong sunshine as she crossed the cobble walk in the courtyard to where Aizen stood at the bottom of dais steps, the tanto in one hand at his side. The slippers were soft and comfortable, hugging her feet in gentle support. She looked to Gin in his usual corner of the platform as she paused a few feet before Aizen.

"Ah, they fit you well," he said, smiling as his eyes fell over her, from her hairpins to her feet. He offered her his hand, but she shook her head. "Very well."

She followed his wave to ascend the dais, looking to Gin, his typical secretive smile barely discernible at his distance in the partial shade of the cotton swags stretched over the platform.

But Inoue knew it was there.

"Sit down," Aizen said, nodding to the stack of blue and purple pillows and cushions that crowded the teakwood table where the game was set up. "Do you believe in perfect beauty, Gin?"

Inoue's eyes shot to the white haired man standing at the corner post, his arms crossed in his altered captain's robes. She stepped among the cushions, still watching the lieutenant out of the corner of her eye.

"No," Gin said. "Nothing is perfect."

Aizen nodded as Inoue sat down, and then took a seat across the table from her. He placed the tanto to one side of the game board. "She's close."

Gin nodded. "Yep. She's close."

Inoue ignored the unease she felt around both men. Her eyes rested on the black and white game pieces on the table, and then the red glass fruit bowl, this time stacked with the usual fruit also. The green decanter was there, too, accompanied by the three goblets. An unfamiliar fruity smell reached her nose. She looked back up to Aizen as he smiled across the table at her.

"How is Ulquiorra treating you?"

Inoue pursed her lips, hesitating to answer. "Well."

"Oh?" Aizen nodded, making his glasses mirror in the sunlight for a second. "Well? Hmm. Not just okay?"

She frowned, waiting for him to say something, anything, to indicate they were to set the game pieces on the board. "He's very attentive."

Aizen smiled widely, glancing at Gin, and then back to Inoue. "He's a dedicated servant."

Inoue kept her eyes on the black game pieces. "Why can't I move Momo in any direction? Every time I do, she gets captured."

"Perhaps you haven't discovered her acceptable movements yet."

"Why don't you tell me? Then we can play a proper match."

He shook his head. "Set up your pieces, Inoue."

She sighed and began putting the obsidian pieces on her side of the board. Aizen looked much the same as she'd seen him the few times before, at Soul Society prior to her capture. _Maybe capture wasn't the right word,_ she thought. She'd gone willingly, after all. _Coercion. That was it._ The glasses, the wavy, slightly uncontrolled brown hair. Non-descript, was the word that always came to her mind.

"I don't understand why I have to dress like this," she said, setting up her back line of higher positioned pieces.

"I prefer it."

She frowned deeper, watching him arrange his front row. "If I'm here of my own freewill," she said slowly, "that means I can leave, too. Right?"

"It would also mean you would no longer be under my protection, Orihime Inoue."

The words sent a slight chill up her spine despite the warm day and the soft tepid breeze crossing the courtyard. She looked to where he was setting his tenth seated Vizard, Shinji, in the front row. She frowned, thinking back on what she'd learned of the pieces and their designations.

"If Hirako-san is your tenth seat, why do you play him as a disposable piece?"

"Not all Vizards and Arrancar are equal. Some are more disposable than others."

Her eyes went to the alabaster piece shaped after Ulquiorra. She carefully set her ninth seated Byakuya as her king beside her queen piece. She refused to look at Aizen's queen; she hated to see herself like that.

"Why is Abarai-san my fifth seat and Captain Kuchiki-san my ninth?"

Aizen smiled. "Some matters are subjective, Orihime. You may make the first move."

She looked over the board. If she was going to lose, it may as well count for something, so she moved Hisagi from his front row position black to another diagonal black space.

"Would you care to wager on this game?" Aizen asked.

"No," she said immediately.

"I think we should." He moved Hiyori a diagonal black-to-black.

She looked to the red glass pedestal bowl. "For fruit?"

Aizen looked at the bowl for a long moment. "What do you think, Gin? Fruit?"

Inoue looked at Aizen's gaze, which was focused directly behind her, and turned to see Gin standing at her shoulder, leaning to see the board. She recoiled as if struck, and then composed herself.

Gin shook his head and straightened, smiling fuller. "She's a flighty one, I'll say."

Aizen nodded. "Join us, Gin. What do you think of a wager?"

Gin made his way among the cushions to take the seat of cushions to Inoue's right at the table corner, placing the odachi to one side. "I'd wager she'll lose."

Aizen nodded, and then reached behind his set of cushions to pull out a rolled scroll-like material, tied with a blue ribbon.

Inoue looked to the lilac roll, frowning.

"If you win," Aizen said, a smile playing about his face, "you can have this scarf, Orihime."

Her eyes went from it to him, to the new row of beading on her vest, and then to Gin. His semi-grin made her courage waver, and she looked back to Aizen. "And if I lose?"

He sighed, looking to the fruit bowl. "Fruit seems too easy."

"I don't want to wager," she said quickly, the unsettling feeling in her stomach starting to grow.

Aizen shrugged. "I suppose you can play for fruit, Orihime. Pick out two pieces, but don't eat them both."

She nodded, relieved, and chose a peach and an apple.

"Don't eat the peach," he said as she set the fruit before her on the table.

Inoue sighed. Maybe she should have chosen two peaches. She looked at the small figure of Momo on the board, and then to the white Shinji across from it on Aizen's side. As she recalled, Shinji had been across from Momo at every other game also.

_Of course, not for long_, she thought, as Momo was always removed as soon as she played the small black figurine. She could feel the weight of Aizen and Gin's stares. She didn't like being this close to either of them, and both of them so near was unnerving to the extreme. She concentrated on the game board.

She looked at her board from Momo's stance. She'd moved the small figure in both directions, from black-to-black before, and each time it had been removed. A thought occurred to her.

She moved Momo from one black space to another. Aizen removed the piece off the board and set it to his side.

Her soft brown eyes went to the black figure for a moment, but she made no comment. She pushed Nanao from one black space to another, catching the men exchange a glance out of her peripheral vision. _So it did mean something,_ she thought.

"All these Arrancars you've had modified," she said, surprising both of them, "they all do your bidding? Without question?"

Aizen nodded, moving the figure of Luppi two spaces toward her front line. "It's more productive to have agreeable followers."

She lifted one shoulder in a slow, lopsided shrug, looking over the board. "It allows for little feedback. Don't you think a little constructive criticism would help in your efforts to defeat Soul Society?"

"Have you any constructive comments, Orihime?" He watched her move Ikkaku two spaces to capture Luppi.

Her fingers closed over his figure of Luppi. "I can take this?"

He nodded. "Any comments?"

She looked at the Espada. "No. I think those closest to you could have some positive input."

"Such as?"

She avoided looking at Gin. "There was once an emperor who surrounded himself with yes-men -- people that agreed to whatever he said -- even to the point of lying straight to his face when they knew it was obvious he was wrong." She bit her lip, fearing she'd said too much. When she looked to Gin, his smile had lifted ever so slightly at one corner of his mouth.

Aizen had sat back in his cushions. "What would make them think they were right and the emperor was wrong?"

Inoue shrugged slowly, wishing she'd never started the comparison. "Well, the emperor thought he was wearing the finest clothing in the land. Everyone told him he was handsome, how fine he looked, how the colors complimented his visage, how he looked so youthful -- but still wise and powerful, of course -- and so commanding. Very regal. No one told him he was actually..." She blushed, shying away from the table some, awaiting Aizen's next move on the game. "Actually, truthfully, he was, indeed, naked."

Gin snickered at this, and she looked quickly to Aizen, who was smiling a small smile, shaking his head.

"Then this emperor surrounded himself without idiots. There's a difference between agreeable intelligence and fools." He moved his third seated Tousen two spaces forward and one space to the right, taking her figure of Ichigo off the board.

Inoue frowned, looking to the piece with the large sword at his back.

"Would you pour for us?" Aizen said to Gin.

Inoue watched the white haired man pour the goblets full, the fruity smell stronger as he did. He set one before Aizen, and one before Inoue.

"So this emperor spent the rest of his days ruling naked from the throne?"

Inoue grimaced at the imagery. "No. When the emperor was making one of his many trips of vanity," she said, pausing, looking at the board and willing herself not to use the word _ego_, "through the kingdom, showing off his new clothes, a village boy made a loud comment on how the ruler had no clothes. When the emperor heard this, he wondered about it, and discovered it to be true."

"How did he discover this?"

Inoue looked over the game. "He finally took a look in his mirror in his private chamber, and faced himself with truth. Then he knew everyone in his entourage and courts had been lying to him, and that he'd made a fool out of himself before his kingdom."

Aizen reached for his goblet, nodding to Inoue. "Try the juice, Orihime."

She took her goblet, smelling the sweet liquid inside. "What is it?"

"Peaches, vanilla, cinnamon. That's about all."

She glanced at Gin, who had made no move to his beverage. She took a small sip, finding the taste light and sweet, heavy with peaches and vanilla. It made her wish she'd chosen two peaches all the more.

Across from her Aizen had drunk half his cup.

She set hers down and moved Zaraki diagonally two black spaces. Aizen countered by moving his queen across the board to take her queen. He removed the modestly dressed figure of herself from the board.

"I win."

She sighed, handing him the peach.

"This emperor in your story chose the wrong people. All fools."

She sighed, sitting back in the pillows, returning his attention as levelly as she could. "They were the people he chose."

Gin put one arm along the pillows behind him, watching her through his nearly closed eyes, the line of a smile at his mouth twisting. "You tell some foolish stories, for a girl with such good grades in school."

She frowned. "Isn't that what you expect of me?"

Aizen chuckled, looking to where one of the white robed servants was approaching from a cobble footpath. "It's time for me to leave you, Orihime." He glanced down to the roll of lilac material. "Too bad about the scarf. Maybe next time you can win it." He stood up and reached for the tanto. "You'll see her to the door, Gin?"

"That I will."

"Until our next game, Orihime." Aizen left with the servant to the opposite end of the courtyard.

Inoue sighed, looking over the game. She looked to Gin, who was watching her closely. "Do I go back now?"

"You will shortly. First finish your juice."

Inoue tried to calm the rattle he sent through her nerves, reaching for the goblet. She changed her mind and collected the figure of Ichigo instead, from Aizen's side of the table.

"That's not yours anymore," Gin said, the grin twitching on his face.

Her fingers closed possessively around the obsidian piece. "The game is over."

"You lost it, Orihime-chan."

She sat back with the piece. "You know that obsidian is harder than alabaster."

"Obsidian is a volcanic glass. It doesn't bend. It shatters."

"I know what you meant when you said to keep your enemies closer."

His eyes narrowed to slits. "You have no idea."

"I know what it means," she said, her nerve flagging, her grip on the game piece tightening. "I just don't know why _you_ would say it."

"Drink your juice," he said, a slight edge to his tone.

Inoue obediently drank the rest of her juice, finding the taste pleasant, despite the lump forming in her throat as Gin watched her. She set the goblet on the table.

"Now can I go back?"

He nodded slowly. "Put him back."

She reluctantly set the figure of Ichigo back on the board, beside herself on Aizen's side of the table, her palm still creased and stinging from her grip on it.

"You're a foolish girl, Orihime-chan," Gin said, standing as she rose.

"I must be, to be here."

At the courtyard door they were met by Ulquiorra, who escorted her back down the dimly lit halls to her room. Once inside, however, he didn't leave immediately, as he had other times.

Inoue thought this odd, until she saw that her clothing was no longer folded neatly on the couch. Instead a long white set of robes and loose-fitting white pants, similar to the ones she'd seen the Arrancar wearing, was draped over the couch. She felt like she was going to be sick.

"Your new wardrobe," Ulquiorra said, a lift to his voice. "I'll give you five minutes to change."

She was going to say something more, but he was already at the door, closing it behind him as he left. She went to the couch, sighing. She quickly stripped off the vest, halter, and pantaloons, and hastily pulled on the white pants. They were of finely woven cotton, roomy and comfortable despite their severe appearance. She followed with the snugger under tunic of white, and pulled on the very fitted coat with the high collar, which fell into a long drop behind her, the white trimmed in black cording, emphasizing her shape in curves.

She smoothed it over herself, frowning at the round cut-away at the front of the coat that parted below her waist. She tied the black sash kimono-style, just below the waist of the tailored coat. She flipped her hair out of the collar, wishing she had a mirror.

_No, not a mirror_, she thought, looking to the blue outfit she'd changed out of. She didn't want to see herself in the blue outfit.

She exchanged the slippers for the white ankle bootlets that were much more confining. She sat on the couch and bent to situate her feet better in them, lacing the cross-hooked fronts over her instep. She tied them quickly as the door opened and Ulquiorra stepped in.

She sighed, standing and looking to the narrow sleeves of the white coat, disliking them, especially since she wasn't sure what to do with the triangle sleeves that extended over the back of her hands.

"I don't know what to do with these. Just let them hang out?" she said, frustrated with the flapping backs of the sleeves.

Ulquiorra stood beside her, a little too closely, she thought. He took her fingers gently in his hand, bending them, his other hand pulling the sleeve end. "I thought human girls knew the proper way to wear every manner of fashion."

Her fingers curled over his as he carefully bent her middle finger to slip it into the small loop of black cording attached to the end of the sleeve at the point. The loop settled the sleeve over her hand, angling across the back of it smoothly.

"I wouldn't call this fashion. I can do the other one myself," she said as he moved to take her other hand.

He watched her slip her finger into the cord loop. "What happened to your hand?"

Her eyes went to the fading purple marks on her palm from where she'd clutched the game piece of Ichigo. "Nothing."

She straightened the sleeve backing, the loops around her fingers feeling foreign. "Thanks for showing me."

"Don't call me El-Queero."

She nodded, her eyes resting on the black that trailed from his eyes. "I won't."


	5. Night Game

Inoue didn't like the change in wardrobe. It was of comfortable linen, but the ultra-tailored design was not one she would have chosen for herself. She became accustomed to the new sets of clothing, however, over the course of the week.

Her fingers toyed with the black cording attaching the pointed sleeve cuffs over the back of her hands. Ulquiorra's hands had been warm when they handled hers, unlike the cold touch she had expected from him. She frowned at the thought.  

She let her mind wander freely to the game, particularly Momo, and more so, Shinji. The king piece was also in her thoughts.

She was almost prepared to see the blue outfit in Ulqura's hand the next time he brought it to her room. Almost.

"Aizen-sama wishes to see you," he said, halting in the center of the room as she stood up from the couch.

"Oh, does he?" Inoue smoothed the white coat along her sides, hating the way it bunched at times. She nodded to the clothing he carried. "What's new this time?"

Ulquiorra shrugged ever so slightly. "I haven't looked at it."

She stood before him, her eyes on the blue material and slippers he held to her. "Haven't you?" She sighed. "I'd like to have three minutes, Ulquiorra-san."

His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. "Why three minutes?"

Her fingers rested on the black sash that was tied at her white coat, drawing her fingers along it to rest on her hips, her eyes watching his follow. "Because it takes longer to get out of this _wardrobe_ than my clothes. Can I have the extra minute?"

His attention had stayed on her movements, but now his eyes met hers. "You may have three minutes."

She smiled, taking the blue garments and slippers from him. "Thank you, Ulquiorra-san."

After he left, Inoue went to the couch and held up the pantaloons, vest, and halter individually for a few seconds each. The halter was now attached at the front center only by a gold ring of twisted rope design. She pursed her lips, a low growl coming from within her. _A definite change,_ she thought.

She quickly struggled out of the encompassing white robe coat, tunic, and pants and into the blue outfit, feeling somehow -- indulgingly -- freer in the short capped sleeves of the blue vest rather than the severe longer white sleeves of the coat shirt. She pulled the halter over herself more comfortably, settling the vest over it as modestly as possible.

She spent the last fifteen seconds of her time alone assessing her bare midriff and the gold ring centered between her breasts, the rows of beads and pearls trailing up each side. She didn't like it, even if they did catch the light in tiny twinkles.

Ulquiorra opened the door after a knock -- the first knock Inoue could remember. She looked to him in surprise.

He seemed a little surprised, too. "It's time, Inoue."

She sat on the edge of the couch to pull on the slippers. She eased her feet into each one and stood, catching his unmasked stare. With a deep breath, she met him near the door, watching his eyes move over her briefly.

"Thank you for knocking, Ulquiorra-san."

Inoue had completely expected the usual scene as the Fourth Espada opened the door that led to the courtyard enclosed by the Las Noches compound. Instead it was dark.

She paused for a moment on the cobble walk as the door shut in the wall behind her. In the center of the darkened courtyard was the dais, illuminated by torchlight at each corner by raised pedestals, their flames licking brightly into the night air. Aizen stood at the steps with the short tanto in one hand, his outline only a vague silhouette from her distance. She started her way there.

The warm breeze passed over her bare arm and stomach, the movement of air welcome after the unstirring environment of her room. She saw Gin standing at one of the corners, his usual corner, as she approached, his robe sleeves seeming exceptionally white in the night. She looked to Aizen.

His appeared more luminous in the torchlight, too. Inoue stopped near him at the steps, a shiver creeping up her back despite the mild temperature. For a moment his glasses were reflective of the lights, and then she saw his gaze on her. The bland smile crossed his face.

"Ah, lovely by torchlight, Orihime." He extended his hand, which she shook her head at. He nodded, gesturing to the steps. "Come up."

She obeyed, taking the few steps to stand at the loo table, looking to Gin near the column, his arms crossed before him, hands hidden in opposing sleeves. His semi-smile was more pronounced in the flickering darkness, his near shut eyes seeming almost merry. _Deceptively so,_ she knew.

"Sit down, Orihime," Aizen was saying, gesturing to the stack of purple and blue pillows she always used.

She stepped among the satin cushions, her nerves already on edge in the dark. "Why am I here at night?"

"Oh? Were you sleeping?"

She frowned, sitting on a pillow, her eyes on the game set on the table between them as he sat opposite her. "No. It's dark, and I never know what time of day it is in my room."

He nodded. "But you're quite sure there are days in Las Noches?"

Her brown eyes rose from the game board and pieces, where her mind had settled on thoughts of choosing her king piece. "Aren't there?"

"What do you think?"

She didn't like the amused tone in his voice. "I've seen the daylight, but I don't know when the days and nights end. There're no windows in my room."

"It wouldn't matter if you had windows or not, Orihime. We have night and day when I decide to," he said, the tilt of his head and featureless smile at the ready.

She frowned, and then looked to the sky. The cotton swags were pulled to either side of the dais, admitting almost a full view of the dark heavens. _Not a star in sight,_ she thought.  

"We're working on the heavenly bodies yet," Aizen said, watching her study of the sky.

Her attention snapped to him. "What do you mean by that?"

He smiled. "Lovely by moonlight, isn't she, Gin?"

"Except there be no moonlight," Gin said.

"Join us."

Inoue looked to the snaky grin of the former captain of the Third Division as he leaned the odachi on a pillow and took the set of cushions to her right at the table. She looked to the purple-black heavens above her. No moon.

"What do you mean, you're working on the heavenly bodies _yet_?"

"A little borrowed technology from the HAARP and LILT programs goes a long way. My head scientist got bored with human and soul modification after sequencing DNA and breaking the genome codes, so he's been dabbling in other venues." A pleased smile crossed Aizen's face.

His words sent images of Mayuri Kurotsuchi through her head, and she looked to his side of the table for a figure shaped like the Twelfth Division captain. There was none. She sighed, wondering how far Aizen's illusions reached.

"So, is it night or not?"

Aizen smiled, pleased. "It's dark, so it must be night, Orihime. Set up your game pieces."

She looked over the table at the game, pieces, red glass bowl of fruit, and green decanter with its three goblets. She set Ishida as her king, disliking that he was considered no more than a pawn by Aizen, and placed her other disposable pieces on the board. She took her time, watching him set his alabaster pieces on his side. In her first line she set Nanao, Hisagi, Hanatarou, Kyouraku, Byakuya, Matsumoto, and Rukia, watching Gin's slits of eyes follow the movements of the buxom tenth seated figure.

Her last figure was Momo. She'd noticed Aizen hadn't set Shinji on the board. Her fingers paused over the small, meek obsidian figurine, its meticulously detailed cap covering the bun at the back of her head, the lace hanging across her neck to her shoulder. She carefully set it between Matsumoto and Hisagi in the front row.

Aizen placed Shinji across from the form and resumed setting up his back row without looking at her.

Inoue let her eyes go to Gin as Aizen made the movement, but the white-haired man's attention was on Matsumoto. She looked back to Aizen as he set the roll of blue cloth by the tanto on the table.

"I don't want to wager on the game," she said before he could say anything.

"Hmm, but I do. What's the point of playing well, if nothing is at stake?" Aizen said, setting up the last of his white pieces.

"I've learned I'm not going to win." She eyed the bowl of fruit, pleased that there were two peaches and a nectarine this time among the usual offerings.

Aizen sat back, spreading his arms to either side of the high stacked pillows behind him. "Is that all you've learned, Orihime?"   

"Yes." She returned his amused look for one of growing discomfort. "Isn't that the point? To show me that I can't win?"

"No. Take your first move."

"We're not going to wager?" she asked hopefully.

"We will. Think of something to wager."

She looked to the fruit bowl. "A nectarine?"

His eyes looked her over thoroughly, pausing on a few parts of her more than others, and Inoue wished to win the scarf soon.

"Your barrettes."

Her fingers shot to her hairpins, a look of alarm on her face. "No."

He seemed surprised. "No?"

She sat back some from the table. _He probably wasn't used to hearing that word,_ she thought. She shook her head. "No. They were a gift. I won't wager them."

"Won't. That's a strong word, for someone in your position, Orihime." Aizen nodded, his eyes settling on hers. "What else?"

She thought furiously. "My slippers."

There was a momentary lapse in his smugness. "You don't like your slippers?"

"I like my hairpins more."

Gin chuckled through his smirk and sat back, enjoying the blush that passed over her.

"Then you can wager your slippers," Aizen allowed, "and in return, if you win, you may have the scarf."

Inoue nodded, relieved.

"Now make your move."

Talk of her hairpins had jolted the thin plan of strategy Inoue had formed, but she tried to keep it focused as she moved Hanatarou from one black space to another. Aizen countered by pushing Risa one space. She moved Nanao one space, and he slid Nell a space.

A few moves later the entire front row had moved at least once, except for the pieces of Momo and Shinji. Inoue nervously decided how best to test her theory, trying not to look at the small figure of Momo more than necessary.

"Pour us all something to drink, Gin," Aizen said Inoue studied the game board. "Help yourself to some fruit, Orihime."

She looked over the red glass bowl, picking out a nectarine. It was smoother, less fuzzy than the peach, its fruity scent thick and fragrant. On a second thought, she picked up the bowl by its pedestal and offered it to Gin.

For a fleeting moment the man's eyes opened more than their normal slits, the light bluish-green irises viewable for a few seconds before narrowing again.

"Don't you like fruit?" she asked, her tone smoother than she thought is would be at the risky movement she'd chanced. She allowed a small smile as he held her stare.

He took an apple without looking at the bowl, eyes reverting to mere lines again.

She smiled fuller, and looked to Aizen, who was watching with wobbling aplomb. She leaned over the table and game to set the bowl before him. "I've been greedy in hoarding it to myself when you've been so kind as to share with me." She sat back down and bit into the nectarine.

Neither man took his attention from her for a few seconds, and then Aizen cleared his throat.

"Gin."

"What?" he looked to his captain.

"Are you going to pour?"

"What? Yes." Gin set the apple down and pulled the decanter and goblets closer to his side of the table.

"Take your turn, Orihime," Aizen said, a frown beginning at his lips.

She nodded and moved Nanao a space she knew would result in the piece being captured.

Aizen took his turn, replacing Hatch on the black space, and removing Nanao from off the board.

Inoue pushed Hanatarou a space, only to have it captured by Kensuke.

"No silly stories tonight?" Gin asked as he set the goblet before her.

Inoue looked to him, trying to hide her growing nervousness. "Do you want to hear a silly story?"

Gin sat back, one arm across the cushions behind him. "It seems to be the only kind you know, Orihime-chan."

"Nothing comes to mind." She sipped the red liquid from the green glass, finding it richly luscious, a mix of berries and melon.

Aizen watched her closely. She looked to him for a moment, then set down the goblet and removed one slipper.

"The game isn't over yet," Aizen said.

"No, but I'm going to lose."

"You don't know that."

She nodded, removing the second slipper, wiggling her toes in their newfound freedom. Gin watched her toes from his vantage point at the side of the table.

"I know I'll lose." She moved Momo one space.

Aizen removed the figure of his former vice-captain from the board. Inoue looked to the small black piece he'd captured, and then closed her fingers over Shinji on one of the black spaces.

"I can take this, right?"

Aizen sat a little straighter on his cushion. "Why would you think that, Orihime?"

Her fingers tensed on the piece. "Because Hirako-san mirrors Momo's movements. Right?" she asked, her voice weakening.

"Momo?"

"Hinamori-san."

He nodded, his eyes intent on hers. "That's right."

Inoue smiled, half out of relief and half out of triumph. She took Shinji from the board. She'd been right. Momo couldn't be moved at all without losing the piece.

She looked to Gin, who was watching her face closely. "Do you still want a story?"

"No."

She nodded. "Because I can't really think of any."

He shook his head.

"Except for one."

With Momo cleared out of the way, Aizen moved Urahara to capture her queen piece.

"You win," she said. Without hesitating she handed him the blue slippers.

He slowly took them, watching her munch on the nectarine. "Your playing has improved."

"Not enough. I still lost." She sat back with the fruit, enjoying its sweetness. A little less juicy than the peach, she'd decided. She looked to Gin. "There was once a man who pursued a woman, wanting to control her and everything she thought, to the point to where she had to say day was night, and night was day, if he chose to call it that. When she --"

"Spare us this story," Gin said, then looked to Aizen. "Unless you think it's worth telling."

Aizen stared at Inoue as she ate. "Save the story for another day, Orihime."

She nodded, hiding a small smile behind the nectarine. "Okay."    

For a long moment there was no sound as Aizen and Gin both drank their juice, each occupied with separate thoughts as Inoue looked over the board.

"But he did win," she finally added as Gin set his empty goblet down.

"How so? I suppose he threatened her into saying whatever he wished," Aizen said, his level stare seeping through her temporary confidence.

"Well, no. He was kind to her, and she eventually wanted to say whatever he told her to. She didn't believe it," she said, "but she did say it." A faraway look came into her eyes and she looked beyond the dais. "'What is she but a foul contending rebel and graceless traitor to her loving lord --'"

"What are you blubbering about?" Gin said, sitting straighter.

"Wait, there's more," she said, watching a wary look slip over Aizen's face. "'I am ashamed that women are so simple, to offer war where they should kneel for peace, or --'"

"Finish your juice, Orihime," Aizen said before she could continue. He looked to Gin. "I think the night air does something to her."

"She gets more foolish."

Inoue drank the rest of the red liquid in her goblet, her pulse racing at attempting the prose. She set the empty glass on the table, looking over the game she'd lost.

"Perhaps you can win the scarf next time," Aizen said, standing.

She rose as he did. "Do I go back now?"

"Yes." He gestured to the steps and she nodded. The cobble walk was cool on her bare feet, the breeze moving across the courtyard warm as she turned to see Gin standing behind her.

"Come along, Orihime-chan," he said as she looked to where Aizen was making his way to the other side of the courtyard along a different path, his white robes oddly luminous in the dark.

She walked before Gin, her nervousness growing, knowing he was so close and yet out of sight.

"I suppose you think you're clever," he said, his voice nearer than she thought it should be, given his height.

"No. Not at all."

She could feel him near, not his warmth -- for she was sure there was none -- but the apprehension she always did knowing he was close. She stopped at the door back into the compound.

"Why didn't you eat the apple?" she asked, desperate for something to say.

"I don't like apples." He turned the latch on the door.

"Then why did you take one?"

"See you next time, Orihime-chan." He opened the door.

She walked ahead of Ulquiorra down the corridor, her hand still holding half the nectarine, her steps quick. She slowed as they rounded the corner and he nearly ran into her. He swerved to her side, avoiding colliding with her head.

"Where are you slippers?" he asked in a low tone as they traveled the empty hall.

"I lost them."

"Where? Outside?"

She glanced to him now beside her, but he didn't look at her. "I lost the game."

They continued down the hall to her room. He paused at her door, his hand on the latch, his usual expressionless gaze settling on her face. "Your lips are redder than before."

Inoue put her fingers to her lips, then looked to the door. "It's from the fruit juice."

He nodded slowly, and opened the door.    

She stepped in, finding the room as she left it. She turned to him as he closed the door behind them. "You were human once, weren't you?"

A brief look of agitation seeped over his countenance, only to vanish as quickly. "All Arrancar were once human, Inoue."

"Do you remember what fruit is?"

He took a step back, nodding slightly. "Vaguely." He nodded to her clothes on the couch. "You have three minutes."

She nodded.


	6. Breaking Rules

Inoue stood staring at the tall white walls of her room for the umpteenth time. If she could put a window somewhere, she decided, that was where it would go. Right there, where she could see out and maybe watch the sun rise.

If the sun rose at all in Las Noches. She sighed. Maybe it wasn't even an outside wall. She turned as the door behind her opened.

Ulquiorra stepped in, his arm draped with the blue outfit, the slippers in his hand. "You've been called, Inoue."

Her eyes fell to the outfit. "Have you ever seen the sun set outside?"

One eyebrow lifted slightly above his solemn eyes. "The sun?"

She nodded. "You know, big warm yellow thing in the sky when it's day." She met him as he crossed the room, her boot heels clipping on the marble floor.

"Have you nothing better to think on than the sun setting?"

She sighed, taking the blue clothing from him. _Ever so much,_ she thought. "Such as?"

He held the slippers out to her. "Your future."

Her breath caught at his words, but she returned his level stare. She took the shoes. "Ooh, my slippers. Thank you. How did you get them?"

"They were with the rest."

She made the best smile she could. "Good. Three minutes? Please?"

He nodded and left.

Inoue sighed. She didn't want to think about her future, not unless there was a certain amount of shinigami or friendly human faces in it. And soon.

She squirmed out of the encompassing white wardrobe, which took over a minute, and whisked on the blue pantaloons. A new flash of brilliance caught her eye, but she didn't pause pulling on the halter, which also brought a flash. She positioned the halter better over herself, frowning at the dangling gold pendant connected at the ring centered between her breasts.

She held it out, determining the oval to be about ten by twenty millimeters, of a highly polished uncut stone. For a few seconds she considered the domed oval, its dark blue opaque luster flecked with bits of gold and white, like minute stars. Her attention went to the girdle of the pantaloons where a matching cabochon of lapis lazuli dangled beneath her navel, centered in the rows of pearl and beadwork.

With a heavy sigh, she pulled on the dark blue vest as a knock came to the door, and Ulquiorra stepped in again.

Her eyes locked on his as he approached. "Is Hueco Mundo abundant in precious stones?"

"I don't know what you mean." He stopped before her, green eyes fastening on the new dangle at her sternum.

"Is there water? You know, bodies of water."

He frowned. "We have water, yes. You know that."

She looked down at the line of pearls running along the top of the pantaloons, tracing the iridescent beading with her fingers. "Because it takes water to make pearls, Ulquiorra-san."

His eyes rose to her. "If you say so. Let's go."

She nodded.

Inoue stood at the wall in the bright sunlight of the courtyard as the door shut behind her. At the dais stood Aizen, the tanto at his side as usual, Gin to one corner on the raised platform. Her toes moved in the slippers on her feet, welcoming the soft violet-blue satin. She started across the cobble walk.

Aizen's eyes dropped behind the glasses to the girl's bare torso as she met him, the dangle of brilliant blue catching the sunlight as she paused. He smiled.

"Stunning, Orihime."

She blushed a peachy color. "Thank you for the slippers back."

"Oh?" He looked to her feet, and then offered his bent arm.

Inoue frowned, shaking her head.

"Very well." He gestured to the dais. "Shall we?"

She preceded him to the wooden platform where the breeze was making the cotton swags overhead lift slightly in the warmer air. She glanced to Gin at his post, her gaze moving away as the light haired man's subtle grin raised at one corner.

"Sit down, Orihime," Aizen said, and waited until she'd found her spot on the purple cushion by the loo table before taking his own spot opposite. "I think the change suits her well, don't you, Gin?"

"What change be that?" Gin asked, unmoving.

Aizen's smile remained its typical placid self. "Why, that lovely little blue drop she's wearing."

Inoue resisted putting a hand to the cabochon of lapis hanging from the gold ring on her halter top. Instead she sat straighter, watching Aizen place the tanto to the side of the game board. She pulled away as Gin stepped closer to her and leaned to look her over more thoroughly.

His thin smile stretched, eyes merely curves in his face. "Yep."

"Join us," Aizen said. He watched Inoue ease her posture once the tall man had taken his seat to her right, resting the odachi to one side. "What shall we play for today?"

She shook her head, then stopped as the blue dangle swayed at the movement. "I don't want to wager."

Aizen looked at her reddish-brown hair where the clips were secured.

"Not my hairpins," she said before he could speak.

Gin chuckled.

"Not fruit today, either," Aizen said, his tone level, fingers drumming on the cushion beneath his hand.

"My slippers?" she asked hopefully, her toes curling beside the table on the polished wooden floor.

Aizen seemed to consider this for a moment. "Your slippers. But this will be the last time."

She nodded, although she felt like she was choking. He placed the rolled blue material beside the tanto on the table.

"In return, if you win, you may have the scarf. Set up your pieces, Orihime."

She took a deep breath and looked at the obsidian game pieces. She placed her queen in its usual spot, and set the standard arrangement of disposable pieces in her front row, including Ishida this time, to one far side, and her third seat of Ichigo behind him. She paused for a moment, watching Aizen place himself as king on his side of the board. Shinji was still on the table, as was Momo.

She picked up the figure of the small black Fifth Division vice-captain, fingering the detailing of its coat back. She could feel Aizen and Gin's eyes on her, weighty stares that made her want to flee the dais. She set Momo beside her queen piece.

"Momo as king?" Aizen stated more than asked.

"Yes. You said any piece."

His eyes clouded, the smile vanishing from his face. "Do you think that's a wise choice, Orihime?"

She moved the small figurine so it was centered within the black square. "I don't think there are any wise moves for Momo."

Aizen sighed, removing the white figurine of himself to be replaced by Shinji. "You may be right."

"Sometimes frailer versions of kings have made for better rulers." She finished setting up the rest of her pieces.

"You're not going to tell a silly story, are you?" Gin asked, draping one arm across the back of his cushions.

"No."

"Good."

"You may begin the game," Aizen said, watching her with uncharacteristic sagacity, his usual amusement slipping.

She decided she wouldn't notice the change in his demeanor. She pushed Nanao in the front row one space.

Aizen slid Risa one space. "Have some fruit. As much as you care to, Orihime."

Inoue's fingers were shaky as she moved Shunsui one space to rest beside his lieutenant. She looked to the red glass bowl stacked with peaches, apples, nectarines, grapes and pears beside the green pitcher and three goblets. She chose a plump nectarine, and then looked to Gin.

"I don't want any fruit," he said as she opened her mouth to speak.

"Hmm, you should. It's very good for you." She watched Aizen move a Vizard she didn't recognize a space diagonally. "Maybe you'd like something other than an apple. Ichimaru-sama."

"No."

She nodded, then stopped as the blue dangle moved. Her eyes went to Aizen, who was awaiting her next play. "Would you care for fruit, Aizen-sama?"

"This isn't a garden party, Orihime-chan," Gin said with a frown.

"Oh, I know, but it is such a lovely day. Don't you think?"

Aizen watched her for a moment as she pushed the fruit bowl to him on the table. "Your turn."

Inoue sat back, looking over the board, biting into the nectarine. "History has proved that sometimes replacement kings are better than the real ones." She looked to Gin. "Did you now that?"

"Take you turn," he said.

She looked back over the board and then moved Hanatarou one space. Aizen countered by moving Grimmjow, capturing the Fourth Division figure.

"I think a demonstration of your expertise is in order," Aizen said, placing the black figure to the side of the board.

The nectarine stopped on the way to Inoue's lips. "Right now?"

"No, not now." Aizen moved the alabaster figure of Ulquiorra two spaces forward to rest before Ikkaku. "What do you require?"

She frowned at him, her fingers paused over Zaraki. "Require?"

"To heal." Aizen awaited her next move.

"Oh." She slowly placed Zaraki diagonally two spaces and removed Tousen from the board. "Quiet. No interruptions. I need to be able to focus."

He nodded, moving the white piece of Nell diagonally on the board.

Inoue looked over the game, and then moved Momo one space from black to black. Aizen took the figure off the board. She reached over and removed Shinji from his side. He moved Gin diagonally two spaces, leaving a clear path to the figure of her in the scanty apparel that served as his queen.

She knew it was a matter of two moves now. She set Isshin forward two spaces, and one to the left. Aizen moved his normal king piece to capture her queen.

"I win."

She looked to the miniature figure of him in white looking back to her from her side of the board as he took her queen piece.

"Yes, you do. As always." She bit into the nectarine, returning his rapt attention. For a moment she chewed. "Imposter kings have even been favored by the subjects they govern."

"Foolish subjects." Aizen said back. "Gin, pour for us, will you?"

Gin nodded and picked up the green decanter and pulled the goblets closer. "Yep."

"Sometimes kings of past have even imprisoned anyone who could pose a threat to their throne."

"That would only be wise." Aizen took the glass Gin handed him.

Gin placed a goblet before Inoue and sat back with his own.

"But some people saw through the reining king, and knew it was an imposter. And sometimes kings even imposed themselves as a commoner and set up a puppet as king in their stead."

"Fools, all of them."

She nodded, tasting the fruit juice, this time of lime and honey. She made a face at the tartness.

"Your slippers, Orihime."

She looked down at her feet, frowning. "I really do like them."

"But they're mine now."

She sighed, nodding, and took a lengthy moment to remove her slippers. She handed them to him, one at a time, and then looked to where a small figure approached along the cobble path that came up from behind the dais.

"Next time Momo will not be available as your king, Orihime," Aizen said as he stood. "That's a rule."

"But you didn't say it was against the rules." A pout formed at her lips. "If you told me the rules, I'd know them."

He nodded. "We'll be playing for something other than your slippers or fruit."

"Oh?" she managed weakly, the nectarine pausing in her hand.

"Gin, will you see her back for me?"

"That I will," Gin said, nodding.

"I'll leave you for now, Orihime. Until next time."

"Bye."

Aizen left then, following the white robed form around the dais and out of sight. Inoue frowned at the nectarine, some of its sweetness lost on her now.

Gin frowned at her. "Kings and imposters and changelings."

"Changelings?"

"Where do you get this nonsense?"

"Have you no imagination?" she asked, smiling slowly.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "You waste your time on silly stories."

Her smile widened. "I'll bet you _do_ have an imagination. You'd have to, to live here."

His eye twitched, his grin crooking. "You were one move away from winning the game, Orihime-chan."

She nodded, the blue dangle bouncing. "I know."

He stood up and holstered the odachi. "You're going back now. Take the peach with you."

"It's a nectarine."

He waited for her to rise.

She looked over the fruit bowl. "Can I take an apple, too?"

"Take whatever you like; let's go."

She picked out a red apple and stood, then followed his gesture to the platform steps. He walked her to the door in the compound wall, the invisible chill creeping along her spine as his steps sounded behind her. She could have sworn the air frosted beside her as he opened the door in the wall when they reached it. 

Once inside, she walked at Ulquiorra's side through the tall white corridors, a path she was starting to recognize by now.

"Where are your slippers?" he asked in a low tone, his hushed words sounding louder than they really were in the echoing hall.

"I lost the game."

"Perhaps you shouldn't bet your slippers if you don't play well."

"I have nothing else to wager."

His eyes remained on the hall before them. "Then you should learn to play better."

She sighed.

When they got back to her room he allowed her three minutes to change out of the blue outfit and back into the white wardrobe. She had a few seconds to spare, and spent them shining the apple on her snug white sleeve before he came back. With a knock.

She folded the blue material over his arm as he waited. "Do you think he'll let me have my slippers back next time, Ulquiorra-san?"

His green eyes were fixed, unreadable. "You'll have to wait to see, Inoue."

She nodded, and then held the apple out to him. "Take it," she said when he made no move toward it. "It's an apple."

His gaze dropped to the fruit. After a brief pause she placed it in his hand as he held the blue outfit. Her fingertips drew slowly across his palm as she did, a meek smile on her lips.

"Maybe you'll remember something."

His eyes rose to hers, and he turned to the door.

Once he was outside the room, the door shut behind him, Ulquiorra raised the apple to his nose, smelling it.

The fruitiness of apple coupled with the scent of her gentle hand on his.

A soft scent becoming familiar to him.


	7. Hanging the Moon

Inoue had grown accustomed to the room, its tall white walls void of decoration, the marble floor that was always cool, the couch that offered little in the way of true comfort. The appearance of comfort, but lacking in any real ease.

She sat on the edge of it, looking at her low-cut boots, hating the confining feeling from the tips of her toes to her throat. One hand went to her hairclips. At least she still had them. The last piece of anything that hadn't come from Aizen.

The door opened and Ulquiorra stepped in, his arm draped with the now familiar blue outfit. She groaned, wondering what would be amiss or added this time. She slowly stood up as he approached, his green eyes steady on her. _Not unattractive eyes, in their soulful depths,_ she admitted, _but not warm, either_. At least, not usually.

"You've been called, Inoue."

She nodded, but didn't try to take the outfit. "I'll just lose, Ulquiorra-san," she said with a sigh. "What's the point of going at all?"

He frowned in momentary disbelief. "Because you've been called. That's reason enough."

"Maybe for you," she said, reaching for the outfit. She smiled a little, seeing the slippers he carried also with the outfit. She made an effort at casual brightness, which was becoming harder to do lately. "Thank you for the slippers, too."

"You have three minutes." He turned to leave.

"May I have four?"

He paused, turning back to her. "Why four this time?"

She smiled, tilting her head, her eyes now holding a light they'd lacked a few seconds ago. "Did you eat the apple?"

For a fleeting second a smile tempted his face, his eyes softening ever so slightly. "It was...as I remembered an apple to be."

She smiled fully. "Good."

Now the smile reached his eyes, but his mouth remained a resolute line. "You have four minutes, Inoue."

Her smile turned indulgent as he left. _So he was not all bone beneath that white enrobed exterior, _she thought. She held up the blue outfit, scanning the halter for details, and then the dark blue vest.

There they were. Small silk tassels at the top of each arm opening, attached to the cap sleeves, dangling in thin strings of gold and lapis blue. She sighed. _Not too bad_, she decided.

Plus, she had four minutes.

* * *

She found herself holding her breath as Ulquiorra opened the door to the courtyard. She sighed, finding it day.

She stepped to the side of the wall as the door was shut behind her, her eyes automatically going to the dais centered in the yard. At the steps stood Aizen, the tanto in hand, as usual. She could barely discern Gin at his normal post, but she knew the inscrutable smirk that would be on his face.

She looked about the courtyard as she started slowly across the cobble walk. The walls were high, and no doubt guarded. The sun overhead was warm, without a cloud in the wide blue skies. She sighed, wondering how much of it was real.

Of all that had changed during her willing incarceration, doubting her perception was the second worst, in her opinion. After learning the sun or darkness could appear at Aizen's whim, the day didn't seem quite as beautiful, nor the sun as warm.

At the steps Aizen reached a hand toward her, the falsely agreeable smile on his face. "Always a pleasant sight, Orihime."

Her eyes dropped to his hand, and she made herself move her arm, resting her fingers on his. "Thank you."

He looked a bit surprised by her touch, suspicion lacing his face as she ascended the steps, noting her eyes drop to the short sword in his other hand.

"I believe we've made progress," he said as he followed her up the dais. "Don't you, Gin?"

Inoue's eyes shifted to the lieutenant across the platform, his posture slightly bent, hands tucked into opposing sleeves, his scowl definite on his face.

"You could say that." Gin straightened, the gentle breeze lifting his white hair as he watched the girl sit among the purple and blue cushions.

Inoue returned his stare for a moment, her courage already sinking at freely taking Aizen's escort. She wanted to wash her hand immediately, but instead looked over the board.

The game was as always, the sun shining off the obsidian pieces, making the alabaster ones seem luminescent. The swags crossing the posts above moved in the soft breeze, and she wondered if Aizen controlled that, too. Probably. She looked to the green glass pitcher, the goblets, and then to the red pedestal fruit bowl of citrus and other fruits. She looked up when she felt Aizen's gaze rest on her as he set the tanto beside the game.

"Have you decided to wager your barrettes yet, Orihime?" he asked.

"No. Never."

"Never?"

She nodded, aware it sent the blue pendant swinging in front of her, as a pendulum at her breastbone.

His eyes dropped to the cabochon's movement. "Never is a long time."

She looked nervously to the bowl of fruit, and then to her beaded slippers.

"Join us, Gin," Aizen invited, leaning closer to the teakwood table.

Inoue steeled herself against flinching from the tall white-haired man's nearness as he set the odachi to one side and took his usual spot at the cushions to her right. She estimated his wrinkle of a grin.

"I can't wager my slippers, or the fruit?"

"That's correct." Aizen set the rolled blue scarf tied with the ribbon near the tanto on the table. "Have you decided on your wager yet?"

Inoue bit her lower lip, looking over the table as her pulse quickened. Her fingers closed on the blue lapis cabochon at her halter. With a hasty pull she jerked it from the gold ring, relieved the ring held. She smiled at Aizen's look of surprise as she set the blue stone on the table by her playing pieces.

"I wager this."

"Well, that does seem excessive."

Gin's grin had slackened at her unexpected decision. He chuckled, sitting back farther in the cushions. "You sure that's what you want, Orihime-chan?"

"Yes," she said, her voice failing as his eyes opened slightly, what she could see of them flicking over her. "I'm sure."

Aizen smiled. "Set your pieces on the board, Orihime."

She sat closer to the table, her hand pausing over the small black figurine of Momo.

"Momo cannot be your king," he said, watching her fingers close on the piece.

"Oh. That's right." Inoue looked over the other playing pieces, summoning her courage to its sticking point. She took a deep breath and stuck a strand of reddish-brown hair behind her ear. It shone a bright auburn in the strong sunlight, and it brought a slight smile from Gin. "Any of the other pieces I can use, right?"

"That's right." Aizen set the scantily clad alabaster figurine of her in his queen position, then looked up in shock as her hand reached across the board.

Inoue's fingers closed around the tall figure of Gin. She hung there for a moment, eyes locked on Aizen's as he looked to her, his composure wavering.

She withdrew to her side of the table, the white figure in her clutch.

"What do you think you're doing?" Aizen growled, eyes narrowing behind his glasses.

She pulled the game piece close, her fist tight on the lieutenant as her mouth dropped open slightly. She looked down at the piece, then to Gin, who appeared speechless. She set the piece beside her obsidian queen. "You said any other piece, aside from Momo."

"Now, wait a minute," Gin started to say, scowling.

"Of your _own_ pieces, Orihime," Aizen said tightly.

"But you didn't say that. You said any other piece."

For a few long seconds there was no sound on the dais. Aizen's stare remained fixed on her, and her fingers clutched each other in her lap, waiting.

Then he nodded, the placid smile returning to his face. "Very well. Keep it. But only for this time."

"Okay." She sighed, a small smile creeping to her coral lips. She took a moment to position Gin squarely on the black space. It looked oddly out of place among the black pieces. She looked to the man at her side. "Doesn't exactly fit in, does it?"

His lips twitched, eyes frowning. "You're going to lose, anyway."

"I know." She set Matsumoto beside her king piece.

Gin's fingers drummed along the blue cushion he sat upon.

"I'll need one of your pieces in return," Aizen told her.

Inoue hadn't thought about that aspect of taking Gin as her king. She looked at her game pieces, and then handed him Momo.

"The most useless piece on the board," he said, shaking his head.

Inoue frowned at the small figure.

"Why don't you pour for us, Gin?" Aizen said, watching Inoue with a slow nod.

"Yep," Gin said, reaching across the table for the pitcher and goblets

"You may begin, Orihime," Aizen told her.

She nodded, glancing over the board. She moved Rukia, only to have it captured by his Nell.

"Your first move and you've lost your seventh seated," he said. "Not a good start, Orihime."

"Women have been lost in battles before. They always will be." She looked over the board, her eyes resting on Nanao, and then Matsumoto.

"All wars have casualties."

"Not all women are weak in wartime, however." She moved Hisagi two spaces diagonally.

"War is for men."

"Women get dragged into wars all the time." She shrugged, looking to the goblet Gin placed near her. "Thank you," she murmured.

"Facilitators and hedges. Collateral." Aizen moved Luppi to take Inoue's Hanatarou. He removed the small black figure from the board.

"Not always." She moved Nanao into a stronger position, across from his Kensuke. "Joan of Arc."

"Armies moved by a girl who hallucinated? Fools."

"What about your own hallucinations imposed on Soul Society?"

Aizen smiled. "They were all fools."

She nodded slowly, but not in agreement. "Hatshepsut."

"Clearly a man."

"Oh?" She moved Byakuya two spaces to capture Urahara. "Cleopatra."

"Weak men, and she lost, eventually."

"Everyone loses, eventually."

"Not everyone."

She shrugged, removing the figure in hat and clogs and his cat from the board. "Delilah."

"Perhaps. I doubt that story."

Inoue looked offended. "Eleanor of Aquitaine."

Aizen moved Grimmjow to take Renji off the board. "Prisoners in towers are desperate."

"And dangerous."

"What's your point?" Gin asked her.

Inoue took a sip from her glass, smiling at the watermelon and strawberry taste. "I was just naming women in history who were instrumental to battles. Would you rather have a story?"

"No," he said, drinking from his goblet.

She nodded, frowning as Aizen moved Ulquiorra, taking Shunsui off the board. "Jael."

Aizen looked to her. "I don't recall her."

"Jael," she said, seeing few options on the board. "She was Heber's wife. General Sisera of the Canaanite army took refuge in her tent when her husband was away at war. She gave him milk to drink, and told him to lie down and sleep, and she would stand watch at the tent door. When he fell asleep, she drove a nail through his head and pinned him to the ground."

Aizen shook his head, moving Nnoitra two spaces to remove Ishida from the board. "Fairytales."

She looked to the bowl of fruit. "Can I have an apricot?"

"Sure." He watched her choose a brilliant orange fuzzy fruit. "You're losing."

She nodded, smelling the small fruit before taking a bite from it. She watched as he moved Tousen to within one move of capturing her queen piece. She moved Ikkaku two spaces, knowing it was a useless move. She'd never doubted Aizen would win.

"Women have been instrumental in wars." Her mouth felt dry at the next words she wanted to say. She took a drink of the juice as he watched her. _Maybe it should be left unsaid, _she thought_. It wasn't anything untrue. He knew it already._ "You used Rukia to --"

"Some things are necessary, Orihime," he said, suddenly leaning across the table, the smile dropping from his face, his hands on either side of the game.

She sat back, the apricot paused at her lips. She nodded, not liking focusing on him this close. Too much like the time he had her heal that big scary Grimmjow.

And then the bland smile was back on his face. He looked down at the game, settling back into his cushion. He moved Tousen to take her queen piece. He took the black piece from her back row, tapping it on the table before setting it down on his side.

"Interesting game, Orihime."

She nodded. She picked up the blue lapis dangle and set it in his outstretched hand.

He looked to Gin. "You'll see her back?"

"Sure will."

"Until next time, Orihime," Aizen said.

She nodded as he left the dais and took the path behind her to the buildings beyond. She swallowed nervously, and then bit too deeply into the apricot, her teeth scraping on the pit. She didn't want to look at Gin, but his stare became too weighty to ignore in the warm afternoon.

She finally let her attention wander to him. He put one arm across the back of the pillows behind him, shaking his head at her.

"If you've got seppuku on the mind, I can get you a knife, Orihime-chan." He looked to her bare midriff, making her flinch. "Left to right."

She frowned at him. "You know I'm only the bait."

He looked to the white king piece still on the game board. "Don't try that again."

She nodded.

"Drink up your juice. You're going back."

She obeyed, downing the fruity juice quickly and standing. She looked to the red bowl. "Can I take something back?"

"Yep. Hurry up."

She looked over the contents of the bowl as he stood and holstered the odachi, not surprised when his shadow fell over her, providing more chill than she thought a shadow should.

She chose an orange, and then walked before him to the courtyard wall. At the door she waited as he turned the knob and let her back inside. She was relieved when she saw Ulquiorra standing there to collect her.

The door shut behind her, and she saw Ulquiorra's eyes settle at the gold ring on her halter.

"Where's the blue ornament?" he asked, taking a moment before raising his attention to her face.

"I lost it," she said, waiting for him to move down the hall.

He didn't. He looked to the door behind her, his hand inching toward his sword hilt. "You lost it?"

"In the game." She didn't understand the blank stillness of his face. "See? I still have my slippers."

Finally the self-possessed blankness reclaimed his expression and he looked to her feet. She wiggled her toes, smiling.

"Let's go," he said with a nod.

It was several moments before Inoue realized they were taking a different set of corridors back to her room. In fact, after a few long moments of walking, she was quite sure they weren't going back to her room at all.

She was about to ask, fearing the answer after robbing Aizen of his lieutenant game piece, when Ulquiorra stopped before a door alone in the hall they'd turned down. He opened it, ushering her inside.

It was the same as the last room, the room she'd lived in for -- how long had it been?

Except for that. She looked up at the high barred window in the tall wall before her. A single arched window, out which she could see the crescent of the moon in the dark skies.

_Night?_ she thought. It had just been day outside.

She spun around to see Ulquiorra behind her. "It's dark?"

"Apparently." He watched her without emotion.

She looked back at the window, and then to the couch and rug before her. They were the only furnishings in the room, much like the old room. On the couch was her white wardrobe.

She sighed. "Four minutes?"

He nodded, turning on his heel.

When he was gone, Inoue spent the first minute just staring at the window, wondering about it with growing agitation and frustration.

Why move her?

She quickly changed out of the blue outfit into her white clothes, frowning at the boots she pulled on, lacing the hooks and ties. Maybe it didn't mean anything, her new room. Perhaps he was only showing off. Day when he chose it to be, night if he chose that, too.

She rose as a single knock came to the door and Ulquiorra came into the room. She saw his eyes go to the window as he crossed the room, something a little less than fascination in them, but not much less.

He took the blue outfit and slippers she handed him.

"Why have I been moved to this room?"

He looked to each of her eyes. "That's what I was told, Inoue."

Out the window she could see no stars, only the moon. She looked back to Ulquiorra to see him also staring at the white arch in the heavens. She watched him for a few seconds, his attention fastened on the night, seemingly unaware of her.

She smiled, slipping the orange into his hand, giggling a little at his start.

He looked down at the fruit. "I think it would be unwise for me to accept this."

She frowned, sagging a little at the words. "Did you get into trouble?"

His eyes dropped back to the orange. "That's not the issue."

She nodded, stepping closer. "Maybe you should eat it here. Then no one would know."

This time the brief waver of hesitancy reached his mouth, a timid smile forming, unlike the low-key sneer she'd seen before on him. His hand closed tighter around the orange.

"I'll take it with me."

She nodded, beaming. "Good."


	8. Higher Stakes

Inoue looked up from her seat on the couch, a distant sound breaking her from her growing melancholy. It sounded faintly of an alarm, a siren muted low by the thick walls and heavy door to her room. She glanced at the barred window overhead. The daylight shone brightly into the room.

Not that it meant it was truly day, she knew.

And then the sound was gone, and she wondered if she'd heard anything at all. She'd certainly imagined hearing alarms enough in her dreams to believe hearing them in her waking hours.

She looked to the door quickly as it opened and Ulquiorra entered. Her brown eyes dropped to the blue outfit over his arm. She sighed. _If he came bearing that, there could be no sirens,_ she thought. She stood up to meet him in the center of the brocade rug.

"You're expected in the courtyard," he said, his manner as cool as ever.

She nodded, glancing back to the closed door. "I thought I heard a siren just now."

"Were there a siren to be heard, the sound wouldn't reach you." He lifted the outfit to her when she made no move toward it.

"Is that why I was moved?"

A sharpness came to his green eyes. "There is no reason for an alarm to sound, Inoue." He watched her take the blue material, her frown settling deeper upon her face. "You don't want so very much to leave here, anyway."

Her attention shot to him. "I would very much like to leave here, Ulquiorra-san."

"But you made a promise to me. If you recall, you agreed --"

"I know what I agreed to." She gathered the blue outfit closer, studying him. "Has Aizen-sama kept his end of the bargain?"

His eyes dropped slightly. "Aizen-sama made no bargain with you, Inoue."

Her fingers tightened on the material, eyes growing wider. "But you said that if I --"

"That was your agreement with me, Inoue. Not Aizen-sama. You agreed to protect your friends by accompanying me of your own freewill." He held her slippers closer as she stared at him in uneasy confusion. "I believe you've agreed to aid Aizen-sama wholeheartedly. With all your being."

She took the slippers, her mind growing cold. "But, my friends, my friends ...They're safe?"

He nodded slightly. "I've done nothing to harm them, if that's what you're asking."

His words put a little less trepidation in her mind, but she couldn't help thinking that she'd overlooked something before agreeing to accompany him to Las Noches that dreadful night.

She looked from the mask at the side of his head to his eyes, to the outfit in her hands. "May I have four minutes, please, Ulquiorra-san?"

He nodded and turned away.

When he was gone, Inoue looked to the blue garments and slippers. She wanted to think more on her exact words that night in Karakura Town -- and _his_ exact words -- but the blood was coursing cold though her mind, making thinking difficult.

She hurriedly disrobed, ripping the confining white coat and tunic off when they bound as she moved. She dropped the white pants, then kicked them to the wall.

What exactly had she agreed to with Aizen if it was not the same bargain she'd made with Ulquiorra?

She pulled up the soft blue pantaloons, settling the girdle at her waist, groaning at the new line of clear crystal beads trimming the waistband beneath her navel. She shrugged into the halter, adjusting it over herself, noting that the blue lapis dangle was back at the gold ring. She pulled it up to see it better. This time it was attached with three small metal rings to the larger gold circle.

She donned the blue vest next, seeing the matching row of crystals lining the entire border, making the pearls and other beading catch the light all the more. She flipped her hair out of her collar, eyes shooting to the door as a knock sounded there.

She sat on the couch to pull on her slippers. From the corner of her eye she saw Ulquiorra cross the room to her, glancing to her clothing against the wall as he approached. Beneath her trembling fingers the slippers seemed to elude her attempts to put them on.

"Why are you lagging today?" he asked, stopping before her.

"I'm not."

"You had four minutes, Inoue."

"I'm almost done." She pulled on the second slipper and stood. She brushed the wrinkles from her pantaloons, watching his eyes find the new row of crystals on her vest. "What was the alarm for?"

"You heard no alarm."

She returned his attention for a moment. "You tilt your head to the left when you lie, Ulquiorra-san."

A slight start came to his eyes. "Come along."

* * *

This time when the door closed behind Inoue, leaving her at the inside of the courtyard looking to the dais in the center of the short grass, she didn't want to meet the two men standing at it. More so than usual.

She'd understood what she meant when she'd agreed to aid Aizen, but she wasn't sure what that meant where her friends were concerned. She didn't want to think Ulquiorra was right.

She forced herself into motion along the cobble path, hoping against hope that there would be no wager set on the game. She was oblivious to the warm breeze moving among the courtyard, of the sun overhead in the cloudless sky. Too soon she met Aizen at the base of the dais.

"You keep me waiting, Orihime," he said, offering his hand.

She hesitantly took it, hoping he wouldn't notice her fingers shaking despite her attempts at controlling them. "I'm sorry."

"Hmm, well, beauty can excuse some things." He ushered her up the steps. "But not all. Sit down, Orihime."

She nodded, looking to where Gin stood at his usual corner, arms crossed, leaning against the pillar in a relaxed posture she hadn't seen on him before. She sat down and moved a blue pillow to one side, looking to the tanto Aizen set on the table between them as he sat across from her.

"You look rather cheerless today," he said, sitting back in the pillows. "Doesn't she, Gin?"

"Yep. Gloomy, I'd say."

Inoue sat straighter, trying to regain her composure from her previous thoughts. She looked to the game board and pieces, the fruit in the red pedestal bowl, the green glass pitcher with its goblets, and then glanced to Gin. She didn't care to be fodder to his mind games today. She felt too weak for it.

She forced a small smile onto her lips. "I find it bewildering I have no idea as to the passing of time here. I don't know if it's one day or a hundred."

"Why not a thousand?" Aizen smiled, taking the rolled blue scarf tied with the ribbon from behind him and setting it beside the game. "I think a wager is in order."

Inoue opened her mouth, but no words came out. She couldn't keep the dread from her eyes, and it made her voice quiver when she attempted speaking. "I don't want to wager my hairpins. I won't."

Aizen studied her for a long moment, his calm eyes falling over her pensive expression, the droop that caught her shoulders. "Mere hairpins, Orihime. They wouldn't detract from your beauty. They aren't even very attractive."

She put a hand to one clip, scowling at him. "I like them."

He nodded. "I know you do. That's what makes them valuable." He leaned over the game. "We're playing for your hairpins and the scarf. Set your pieces on the board, Orihime." He glanced to Gin. "Join us."

Inoue barely noticed the former Third Division Captain taking his seat as she set her black figurines on the game board, her mind preoccupied with her hairpins, and how she could keep them. Winning was not an option, she knew, for she had no confidence she could.

"Not feeling chatty today?" Gin asked as she set the board in silence.

Her eyes slid to him, then back to the game as she set Shunsui as her king piece. "I know I can't win."

"Why not?" he asked, positioning the odachi to his right against a cushion. "Haven't you learnt anything yet?"

"Not enough."

Aizen set Shinji across from Momo on Inoue's side of the board. "I believe she's been thinking, if the last game is any indication."

Inoue tried to pull her thoughts to the sunny afternoon and the game before her on the dais. She could sort through Ulquiorra's words later; at the moment she had to keep her hairpins. She pushed the smile back into place, then hooked a strand of reddish-brown hair behind her ear.

"I have learned that I must use my own pieces for king," she said, sighing.

"Good. Take the first move, Orihime," Aizen said, resting one arm on his knee, sitting closer to the game than usual.

She nodded, moving Hanatarou a space, only to have him captured by Hatch. She pushed Matsumoto from black to black, which resulted in the obsidian lieutenant being removed by Hatch. She noticed Gin watch the Tenth Division figurine being set to one side of the game.

"So quiet today," Aizen observed. "Have you had issues with Ulquiorra?"

She looked up quickly. "Issues? Oh, no." She bit her lower lip, eyes on the dwindling row of her first defensive line of shinigami.

Aizen set Grimmjow in line across from her queen piece, with only Ichigo standing between them. "I thought wagering your hairpins would bring more of a challenge from you, Orihime."

"I don't have the battle experience you do." She moved Nanao, only to lose the black piece to his Kensuke.

Aizen sat back as she considered her next move. "Gin, pour us something to drink."

"Yep."

Aizen watched Inoue's fingers pause over several figurines, undecidedly hovering and going on to another piece. "Help yourself to some fruit, Orihime."

She looked with disenchantment to the glass bowl of peaches, apples, nectarines, and two clusters of grapes. "No, thank you."

"Oh?" Aizen wore the sociable smile he had used to deceive the whole of Seireitei. "Hmm. I don't see the advantage of having a despondent assistant with your abilities, of which I am in sore need."

She looked up at the words, his tone non-threatening, but with an impact she couldn't quite interpret. "My mood does not affect my abilities to heal, Aizen-sama."

He smiled wider as she moved Byakuya into a position that allowed his Luppi to take the captain shinigami. "Yes, I know you can heal under duress, Orihime."

She forced the sulk from her face. Gin had finished pouring the three green glasses full from the pitcher and now placed one before each of them.

She looked at the fruity-smelling liquid of a pale gold color, and then to the board. If she knew the game correctly, she'd already lost in several ways; Aizen simply hadn't taken one of the last, final moves yet. She felt a weakness sliding over her at the thought of losing the hairpins. _Why hadn't he taken his final move?_ she thought. _Surely he knew he could._

She moved Ishida to take Tousen, and then lost Ishida to Urahara. In desperation, she moved Zaraki two spaces diagonally. Aizen placed Grimmjow across the board and removed her queen piece.

"You win."

"I win."

She sat back in the pillows, her hands folded together in her lap to keep them from shaking. She watched her fingers quiver, trying to calm them. The warm afternoon seemed suddenly too hot as she felt both men watch her. Waiting.

"Your hairpins, Orihime."

She raised her eyes to Aizen. "No."

His typical smile dropped, and he leaned forward, extending his hand across the table to her. "Are you refusing me?"

She squeezed her hands together tighter, trying to still her fingers, assessing his slight smile, the casual shock of brown hair that hung nearly over one lens of his glasses. She took a deep breath, and removed one pin from her hair with nervous fingers. She looked at it for a long moment.

"Both of them."

Her fingers were numbing as she pulled the second pin from her hair, feeling the petals of the design on it, memories of her brother pushing through her mind. She set the pins in his hand, swallowing hard.

"That wasn't so hard now, was it?"

She glowered at the self-pleased smile on his face as he looked to the clips in his hand.

He shook his head. "Not much to look at, I must say." He looked up suddenly at something behind her.

Inoue didn't care to look at what had caught his attention. Her focus was on her precious hairpins in his hand.

Aizen stood up. "You will excuse me, Orihime. I must say, I expected a better game from you." He tossed the hairpins to Gin, who caught them without looking. "Until next time, Orihime."

She barely nodded as Aizen left the dais, her eyes following the clips now in Gin's possession. He hadn't even looked at them yet, his eyes on her, his mouth set in a crooked line on his face.

"Why the pout, Orihime-chan?"

She frowned at him, her eyes softening at the small decorations in his hand.

"Nothing to say? No appetite today?" He smiled, his eyes disappearing completely. "Cheer up. Maybe you can win them back next time."

"You know I can't."

He sat back, resting one hand across the back of the pillows there. "You don't dislike it so much here. That surprises me. I thought you'd still be wanting to go home."

Now her eyes focused on him sharply. "Of course I want to go home."

"Oh?" He sighed. "Maybe so. Maybe not."

She looked back to the game board. "Can I go back now?"

"Drink your juice, Orihime-chan."

She reached for the goblet, drinking half the liquid inside without tasting anything but sweetness. No distinct flavor, as other times. "Now?"

Gin sighed, the hairpins tight in his hand. "No fruit today?"

She shook her head.

"So moody. Ah, well. Let's go."

Inoue stood up and moved away from the table, catching his movements out of the corner of her eye. He set the hairpins beside the game board, his fingers brushing the black figurine of Matsumoto as he did.

She descended the short stair as he fell into step behind her. When he spoke his voice was too close, again.

"You weren't thinking on the game today. What's got your thoughts?"

Inoue stepped quicker, wishing she could outdistance him, but dared not try.

"No answer? Hmm." His stride paused, and Inoue looked over her shoulder to see his head turned, facing one of the sides of the compound enclosing the courtyard. The smile had fallen from his face, a definite frown in its place. It was the closest expression she'd ever seen to worry on his normally smug face.

She stopped at the door, and when she looked to him again, the smile had returned, although nothing more than a vague line.

"Next time try to win, Orihime-chan."

She nodded, and passed through the door he opened.

* * *

She obediently walked at Ulquiorra's side down the halls with the tall walls of the twisting corridors back to her room. Her arms were crossed in front of her, fingers gripping her elbows, thoughts on the hairpins now in Aizen's possession. What would happen to Shunshun-rikka? She'd never be able to play well enough to win them back.

"Where's your hair decoration?" Ulquiorra asked after a few moments of silence.

She turned her face to him, seeing something malleable in his eyes as she had a few times before. "I lost them in the game."

His jaw tightened at her words. "What sort of game is that?"

Any other day up until then Inoue would have told him readily, perhaps even with some amusement, but now that she wasn't sure of her bargain with the high-ranking Espada, she had no desire to. "One of his own imagination."

They passed another hall, and at the end of it she saw Aizen with four others. It was not the same man who had just beaten her at Ego and taken her hairpins; this was the renegade captain who had forced her to Las Noches. In the brief glimpse she saw his white coats, his hair swept back over his head, minus the glasses that gave him the innocuous look. A shift in appearance that lent a chill to her spine.

He glanced askance at her, and then turned his attention back to Grimmjow, Nnoitra, and two other figures Inoue did not know by name. She looked down as Ulquiorra's fingers pressed against the inside of her arm, just above her wrist, his eyes locked on the group at the end of the hall as they passed.

She hastened on with him, taking the next corridor that she was certain did not lead back to her room. In fact, they traveled for the next few moments in what she was sure was not the right direction.

But then they turned another corner and it led to her room. Gin was waiting at the door.

Inoue stopped, catching her breath. Ulquiorra paused, too, surprise and caution in his eyes. He took Inoue's elbow as she hesitated.

"Come along, Inoue."

She nodded, fighting the urge to turn and run, and approached the grinning, white-haired man at the door. Gin stood with his arms to his sides, the odachi hilt protruding from his white robe that Inoue had always seen him wear when he was with Aizen while in his less-gregarious appearance. She much preferred the shinigami-style robes they used in the courtyard, even with the alterations.

"Well, it's about time, Ulquiorra," Gin said when they met him at the door. "Finding your way around okay now?"

Ulquiorra nodded, his eyes never leaving his superior. "Yes, Ichimaru-san."

"That's good." Gin looked to Inoue, who was still half-shrinking away, her arm in Ulquiorra's hold. He shook his head. "Such sad and scared looks today, Orihime-chan." He looked to the Espada's hand on her arm. "Oh, friendly, too."

Ulquiorra took his hand from her.

Gin shook his head. "I'm not minding any, but there are those that might object." He looked to Ulquiorra. "When you're finished here, I want to talk to you."

"Yes, sir."

Ulquiorra ushered Inoue into her room and the door closed behind them. She went to the couch where her white wardrobe was now folded neatly. She looked to him, searching his face for anything. "Why is he here?"

Ulquiorra didn't completely conceal the troubled look in his eyes. "Change quickly. I have to be elsewhere, Inoue."

She nodded quickly, and he left the room.


	9. Playing Well

Ulquiorra moved down the tall, echoing corridors a few days later to where he knew the lieutenant to be, his pulse racing more than usual when he left her room. He hadn't expected _that_ reaction.

He'd never been slapped, and certainly not by a captive human girl. Actually, they'd never had a human captive girl before. His cheek still stung.

He looked in the open doorway at Gin sitting before the screens in the darkened room. The senior officer turned his attention on him, the circuitous smile spread across his face as he looked to the Fourth Espada.

"Now there's a shade of pink on you," Gin said, grinning wider.

Ulquiorra put a hand to his warm cheek. "I told her, like you said."

Gin nodded, chuckling at the mark on the other man. "Aw, well, that's a clear yes. She definitely wants to go back." He shook his head. "That is what you asked her, wasn't it?"

Ulquiorra nodded.

"Is that all you asked her, or was there something else that got you slapped, Number Four?"

"Well, I told her that her friends would fail."

"Hm, well, that'll get you walloped. Touchy about their friends, humans are." Gin grinned at the Espada. "Probably not something you would understand."

Ulquiorra frowned at him. "I'm not stupid like Grimmjow."

"Naw, you're a different kind of stupid." He turned back to the screens as the Espada sulked. "Stop your pouting and buck up. You're going back."

Ulquiorra shot him a surprised look.

"I'd like to ask you to stay and chat," the lieutenant said with a smile, "but Aizen wants to play a game."

* * *

Inoue had pressed her back against the wall and slid down it, tears welling in her eyes, blurring her vision as Ulquiorra had left the room. She was unable to back away from the impact of his words, even as he told her in no uncertain terms that her friends were inside the Las Noches compound, facing certain death in their effort to aid her.

The words had dripped so smoothly from his lips, so fluently, so easily, without practice. She'd never seen him so intent on pointlessly damaging her frail mindset. Her friends were there, they were going to fight for her, find her, die for her, and he had taken great pleasure in telling her how they would fail. She didn't understand how he could change so quickly, without provocation.

Her hand stung from the slap. Her fingertips had caught the edge of his mask. They stung, verging on numbness.

She sniffed, drying her eyes on the edge of the white sleeve. His eyes had been frozen on her that she'd dared strike him, and then they slid to her in green loathing.

She dabbed at her eyes, drying her wet cheeks. She'd wasted her time trying to be kind to him. _Just words,_ she told herself. _Just words from an enemy. They can't mean anything unless I let them._

She spent a few moments drying her eyes, her thoughts resting on who of her friends would possibly come for her rescue, and which ones could possibly succeed. Ulquiorra hadn't said who, hadn't described anyone. She frowned. He could very well be bluffing. She thought back on the sirens she thought she'd heard several times before, since being moved to the new room.

The door opened and she looked there quickly, pulling herself to her feet.

Ulquiorra stepped in, the blue garment on his arm. _Oh, not now, _she thought.

She wordlessly met him at the edge of the rug, looking over the fading mark on his cheek.

"You've been summoned, Inoue," he said tonelessly.

"I know." She snatched the blue material off his arm, eyes sharp on him. "Get out."

She turned and walked back to the couch, the garment in her hands.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

She paused, her steps halting. She didn't turn around for a long moment, trying to decide if this was another attempt at cruelty. She turned slowly, eyes raising to his. "Is it true or not?"

He hesitated answering, watching her frown deepen. "You have four minutes, Inoue."

She stood still as he crossed the room and left back out the door.

She sighed, holding the blue material out in front of her, her gaze finding the new embellishments. _Not much,_ she thought, looking at the rows of small, rice-size silver and blue beading that crossed the shoulders of the vest like fancy epaulettes. She sighed, and began pulling off her clothes, this time folding them to set on the couch.

* * *

When she arrived at the door to the courtyard under Ulquiorra's escort, Inoue's hand reached for the latch before his could. He pressed the door shut as she began to open it.

"Aren't I going out?" she asked him, ignoring the twinge of softening in his eyes.

"Of course you are." He looked down the hall, and then back to her. "I said I was sorry. You're supposed to receive that with compassion."

Her fingers tightened on the latch. "What would you know of compassion, Ulquiorra-san?"

"You seemed to have accepted being here so easily, Inoue. I thought perhaps you didn't want to leave anymore."

She frowned. "You didn't give me much choice _not_ to accompany you, and Aizen-sama hasn't given me any choices but to stay. Does it matter if I accept or reject staying here?" She saw a flicker of doubt cross his face. "Can you leave here, if you choose to?"

His hand moved to the door latch, but his attention was still on her. "This isn't about me, Inoue." He opened the door, but this time it was her hand that pushed against it.

"Can you leave here, if you wanted to, Ulquiorra-san?" her voice was softer, inquisitive in a way it hadn't been before.

For a moment he debated answering, and then chastised himself for nearly answering. "Move your hand from the door."

Inoue withdrew her hand, sighing. He opened the door, and she stepped out into the courtyard.

* * *

This time her feet on the warm cobblestones as she crossed the courtyard to where Aizen stood at the steps of the dais were quicker, with more purpose. She saw Gin at his usual post, wearing his typical smirk, unseen eyes following her as she met Aizen.

"Is this urgency I see?" Aizen asked as she reached him.

Inoue didn't know how to answer. "I thought I was late, Aizen-sama."

"Hmm." His eyes moved over the new decorations at her shoulders, smiling. "Almost adds a look of accomplishment to the vest, doesn't it? Maybe we should be giving you some sort of promotion when this is over, Orihime." He offered her his hand. "After all, you'll be playing quite a role in our victory."

The words grated against her mind as he said them, but Inoue took his hand and ascended the steps to the dais platform.

"Take your seat, Orihime," he said as she moved among the cushions and pillows around the table. "What do you think of giving her a position among our ranked, Gin?"

Inoue looked quickly to the man at the post.

Gin seemed to mull it over for a moment. "I wonder would she accept a ranked position."

Inoue glanced back at the low table as she sat on a cushion, wishing to wipe her hand on something after Aizen's skin had touched hers. The table was set as always, with the game and pieces, the green pitcher and goblets, the red pedestal bowl overflowing with fruit. The swags overhead moved in the soft, warm breeze, the sky overhead cloudless and bright. Aizen placed the tanto to one side of the board beside the game, and she saw the rolled lilac-blue material, the elusive scarf, near it.

She sighed. No sign of her hairpins.

"Set your pieces on the board, Orihime," Aizen said.

She set her queen piece in its usual spot, and then looked the other obsidian pieces over, frowning at the small figurine of Momo. She looked across the board where he had set his back row with lower ranking Arrancar and Vizards.

"Join us, Gin."

Inoue looked to the tall white-haired man as he followed Aizen's suggestion, watching the long odachi as it rested against the cushion near him, seeing his eyes go to the figure of Matsumoto. She set Hisagi and Ishida on either side of her queen piece with hesitant fingers.

Aizen noticed her choices. "You choose Hisagi as your king piece? One of your lowest ranking pieces."

"You said the king was immaterial. Of no consequence."

"True."

She lined up the rest of the back row with Nanao, Hanatarou, Shunsui, Matsumoto, and Byakuya. She looked over the rest of her black game pieces, and then positioned Momo directly in front of her queen, flanked by Renji and Ichigo. Across from her she saw Shinji placed in front of the fancifully carved figure of herself.

"Interesting line-up you got there," Gin said, his grin becoming a mere line.

"Very interesting," Aizen agreed, nodding at the game pieces. "What shall we wager today, Orihime?"

"I want my hairpins back," she said immediately.

"What have you to wager?"

"Nothing."

"Hmm, doesn't quite seem fair." Aizen's casual glance settled over her slowly, resting on her pensive frown. "So serious today, Orihime. Isn't she, Gin?"

"Yep. Downright glum."

She glared at Aizen for a long moment, and then turned her scowl on Gin. She stood up and took off her vest, startling them both. She set it beside the game board, looking to Aizen.

"I wager this."

"Well, now," Aizen said, adjusting his glasses, looking at the bejeweled blue vest, "that is certainly enough to wager."

"I want my hairpins back," she said, reclaiming her seat, crossing her arms at her chest. This put more strain on the halter, and she uncrossed her arms, blushing.

"I see." Aizen cleared his throat, nodding. "Take the first turn, Orihime."

"Do you wager the hairpins?"

"Yes."

She waited a long moment, frowning. "Well?"

"Yes?"

"Where are they?"

He sat forward, looking closer at her across the game, his voice just above a growl. "If you win, Orihime, I'll have the hairpins brought out."

She had shrunk back at his movement, but the frown remained on her face. "Shall I move first?"

"Please do."

She breathed a little easier as he sat back from the table, resting one elbow on his knee, watching her closely. She looked to her front line, and moved Ikkaku two spaces forward.

"Help yourself to some fruit, Orihime," he said, his voice back to its normal affable tone. "As much as you like."

She looked to the bowl, leaning closer to see a nectarine nestled among the apples, pears, and apricots. She took the nectarine, and then looked back as he pushed Nell two spaces forward. After a brief pause, she moved Rukia two spaces forward.

"Why so determined to keep the hairpins?" Aizen asked, moving Tousen two spaces forward and one to the side.

She frowned over the board, looking from Rukia to Tousen for a few moments. "I like them."

He watched her replace Tousen with Rukia and removed the alabaster piece off the board. "Is that all?"

"Yes."

"Pour for us, Gin."

"Yep."

He had no sooner pulled the goblets and pitcher closer to his side of the table than both men looked to the door in the courtyard wall behind Inoue. She noticed their attention shift, but didn't look there. Gin poured the goblets full and placed one before Inoue.

"You want me to check on that?" he asked, placing a green glass on Aizen's side of the game.

"No." Aizen slid Risa one spot diagonally to rest before Isshin.

Inoue noticed Aizen's attention was still behind her, his expression not quite so relaxed. She looked to Gin, who returned her stare. She moved Zaraki two spaces diagonally to replace Nnoitra.

"Well done," he said, nodding, drinking from the glass as he looked over the board. His hand rested on Grimmjow, but his focus was at the courtyard wall, again behind Inoue.

She watched his face, unable to read the expression there. He stood, and then looked down at her.

"It seems your strategy is for naught today, Orihime." He picked up the lapis blue vest, handing it to her. She slowly took it. "So is your readiness to sacrifice this. I have matters to attend. You will excuse me. Gin, you'll see her back?"

"Yep. I will."

"Until next time, Orihime," Aizen said, the bland smile crossing his face.

"Yes," she said as he descended the steps as a slight white robed figure appeared from behind the dais.

Inoue looked back to the game as the pair disappeared out of her sight behind the dais, and then to the nectarine beside the table. She pulled the vest closer, fingers closing over the beaded edging.

"Your tactics have improved," Gin said, nodding from the side of the table. "I'll say that."

She frowned at the table. "But I didn't win."

"No, you didn't have a chance at it, but your plan was better."

She looked at the obsidian figurine of herself surrounded by the other black game pieces. "Was it?"

"Yep."

She studied the board for a long moment. "But I couldn't have won. I'd have to move Shinji-san before I could capture his queen, and he would have had my Hinamori-san --"

"You're not thinking farther, Orihime-chan," he said, leaning closer over the board. "Yep, you'd be sacrificing her, but it would clear the way for your own queen to take his before he had another move coming to him."

Inoue pictured the moves on the board for a moment, sitting straighter as she hovered over the game, until she saw the plays Gin had described.

"Do you know how all the pieces move now?"

"Yes," she said, nodding, still looking at the pieces.

"How does Zaraki move?"

"Two diagonally."

"Which is also...?"

She looked to him, unable to see much of his eyes. "Which is?"

"Two to the side and two forward."

"Oh. Yes."

"How does your fourth through ninth seated figures move?"

She frowned at him, blinking. "Is this a quiz?"

"Just try to answer, Orihime-chan," he said with a sigh.

"Fourth through ninth can move forward or to the side two spaces."

"Yep. I guess you do know. How do Hitsugaya and Isshin move?"

She focused on the two third seated figurines. "Two forward and one to the side, or one forward and two to the side. Right?"

"Right." Gin sat back in the cushions, nodding. "Drink up your juice."

Inoue frowned, but obeyed. The berry liquid was sweet on her lips, but with a bit of tartness. She looked to the nectarine she hadn't eaten. "Can I take the fruit with me?"

"For Ulquiorra?"

She flinched, catching herself before spilling the glass.

He shook his head. "Still jumpy."

"Did he get in trouble?"

He grinned. "You slapped him?"

She set the goblet on the table, gathering her nerve. "Did you put him up to telling me --"

"Me?" He chuckled, reaching across the game board to the rolled scarf. He set if before her on the table.

She looked at it for a few seconds, then to him, alarm starting to rush cold in her mind. "I, I didn't win it."

"You could have won today, Orihime-chan."

"But I didn't."

"You played well."

She fingered the pale blue material of the scarf, touching the darker blue ribbon tied around it.

"Let's go." He looked to the courtyard walls, the amusement dropping from his grin, leaving only a thin line.

She stood and pulled on her vest, catching his attention turn from the building to her. She eased her hair out of the blue collar.

"Come on."

She collected the scarf and nectarine and made her way across the cobble walk. He was close behind her, keeping her pace quick, his head turned to the building that encircled the courtyard. They paused at the wall before the door, and she turned to him.

"Why was I moved to a different room, Ichimaru-sama?"

"Oh? Were you?"

She couldn't tell if he was serious or not. "I think I was..."

"Hmm, well, ask me again when you know."

He opened the door and let her inside.

* * *

Ulquiorra looked her over with uncharacteristic thoroughness as the door closed behind her. He frowned at the gold and indigo blue silk tassel tucked under her vest sleeve at one shoulder from when she had put it back on moments before.

"What happened out there?" he asked with unusual frankness.

Inoue looked to the tassel, and put a hand there to pull the long fringe back out so it dangled loosely from her cap sleeve. She didn't want to tell him, but when she looked back to his eyes, she saw more than just the inquisitiveness. Not the same eyes that had burned at her when she'd slapped him.

He decided she wasn't going to answer. "What's this?" he asked, nodding to the roll of material.

"From the game."

"You won?" The disbelief in his voice was evident.

"No, but I played better."

He nodded. "Let's go, Inoue."

She walked ahead of him down the long, twisting corridors, the ever-present stark quiet now accompanied by an underlying tone she didn't recognize. It wasn't until they reached the door to her room that she realized it was the steady tone of an alarm in the distance, so far away it seemed just a dull drone.

She stepped into the room ahead of him, turning as he pulled the door closed. "Do you even know what sorry means?"

His brow creased only slightly, but she saw it clearly.

"Yes."

She nodded. She looked down at the nectarine, feeling the soft outer skin with her thumb. She held it out to him.

He looked at the nectarine for a moment, then shook his head.

"Take it," she said gently. "I brought it for you."

He nodded, accepting the fruit, smiling a bit. "I am sorry."

She nodded.

"You have four minutes."

He left then, and Inoue sighed. _So, it wasn't his doing,_ she thought, looking to the sofa and her clothes. She removed the blue slippers, and held the scarf closer. _Probably Gin, playing his games,_ she thought, _making Ulquiorra tell me cruel things to amuse himself._

She took a precious moment to untie the ribbon and unroll the pale lilac-blue material. She could see already that it was sheer -- too sheer to be of much use as a modesty covering. She unrolled it to the end, a good length of material, feeling something solid at the end of it.

She caught her breath as she got to the end of the scarf, her hand tightening. She smiled, giggling, and sat down on the sofa.

Beneath the silk wrapping appeared her hairpins.

* * *

**_Departing from the established storyline more than usual now..._**


	10. Sunflowers in Moonlight

Inoue sat on the couch, the hairpins in her hand, her finger tracing the delicate flower design. The window was dark, claiming night, but she knew it could lie. The moon outside meant little as it shone brightly into the room, competing with the artificial light from inside.

She was tempted to put the hairpins in her hair, had wanted to for several days -- or whatever was passing for days in Las Noches -- but didn't. She wasn't sure she was supposed to have them, and wasn't certain who had given them to her. She knew Gin had given her the scarf, but she didn't think Aizen had given her the hairpins.

Which led to more confusion when she considered how angry Aizen would be if he saw her wear them. She looked up as the door opened and Ulquiorra stepped into the room. She closed her hand tightly, putting it behind her back as she stood.

On his arm was the blue outfit. He crossed the room to her, frowning as he neared. "What are you hiding, Inoue?"

"Nothing."

"Show me."

She shook her head, taking a step back from him. "It's nothing."

"Then show me."

She hesitated for a moment, until he took a step toward her. She showed him the hairpins. He looked at them, then back to her.

"Why aren't you wearing them?"

"I don't think Aizen-sama knows I have them," she said slowly.

"Oh." He lifted an eyebrow slightly, nodding. "I see. Perhaps you shouldn't wear them. He's called for you."

She nodded, taking the blue outfit and matching slippers he handed her. "Four minutes?"

"Four minutes."

When he was gone, Inoue sat down on the couch and pulled off her bootlets. She begrudgingly put the hairpins in one of them, and stood to remove the white ensemble. She whisked the powder blue pantaloons up, settling the darker girdle at her waist, pausing to see the new set of crystal beading lining the sides of it, the tiny accents catching the light. She sighed, and then examined the vest to see a matching row of new beading at the sides of it also. She hurriedly pulled on the halter, settling it over herself, and then slipped on the vest.

Ulquiorra knocked once, and then opened the door as she sat at the couch to put on the slippers. He stood at the edge of the rug, watching her.

"Are you certain you would leave, if you had the opportunity to, Inoue?"

The question jolted her nerves. She stood, looking back at him, estimating the hesitancy in his green eyes. "Is this another game?"

"No game. Would you leave, if you could?"

"If I could leave without compromising my friends?"

He nodded.

"Of course I would leave." She frowned at him. "You think I'm not in enough torment knowing I can't leave? Is that why you ask?"

"I thought perhaps you didn't want to leave anymore," he said, watching her closely.

"Who wants to know?"

"I do."

She sighed and collected the scarf from the couch, taking a moment to arrange it over her shoulders. The sheer lilac-blue material did little to cover her with any modesty, but at least it was something, she decided.

"Very becoming," Ulquiorra said, nodding, his eyes on the scarf.

She returned his stare for a moment, a slight pink tinting her cheeks as a small smile hinted at his mouth.

"Thank you, Ulquiorra-san."

He nodded. "Let's go, Inoue."

* * *

Inoue looked to where Aizen stood at the steps of the dais, her back to the courtyard wall as the door closed beside her. The sun stretched warm across the grass and cobble walkways, as any other day, the soft, mild breeze stirring the scarf draped over her shoulders.

She took a deep breath and approached the dais, seeing Gin in his usual corner. She wondered suddenly how Aizen would react to her having the scarf_. _

Aizen frowned as she met him, looking to the scarf, and then to Gin on the dais. He twisted the tanto in his hand, his attention returning to her. "Quite fetching, Orihime. I suppose you beat Gin at the last game after I left?"

She took the hand he offered and ascended the steps to the platform. "No."

"No?"

She paused at the table, trying to determine Aizen's mood.

He frowned at her, and then sighed. "Have a seat, Orihime."

She nodded, and took her spot among the blue and purple cushions and pillows, pulling the scarf closer around her shoulders.

Aizen looked to Gin. "Can you explain this?"

Gin shrugged. "I thought she played better."

Aizen nodded. "She certainly had a promising line-up. Join us."

Inoue breathed a little easier, watching both men take their usual seats near the table. Aizen set the tanto beside the game board, his eyes on her. Gin leaned the odachi to the side of his cushion, the smirk deeper than usual on his face.

"Since you're already up by a scarf, Orihime," Aizen said, nodding at her, "I suggest you wager it on the outcome today."

She nodded.

"Put it on the table."

She frowned. "Can't I wear it until I lose it?"

"No. You've already worn it before you've won it," he said, sparing Gin a glance. "On the table."

She sighed, and removed the scarf, folding it carefully, laying it beside the tanto.

"That's better, isn't it, Gin?"

"Yep. Better."

"Set your pieces on the board, Orihime."

She looked to the fruit in the red glass bowl and then to the green pitcher and goblets, deciding to repeat her strategy of the last game.

She placed Hisagi as her king piece, and set up her back row of Ishida, Nanao, Hanatarou, Kyouraku, Matsumoto, and Byakuya, along with her queen piece. She set Momo in front of her queen, with Renji and Ichigo on either side. She looked across the board as Aizen placed the alabaster figurines on his side, watching as Shinji was set before his queen piece.

"Why does Hirako-san mirror Momo-san?"

Aizen smiled a genuine smile of self-satisfaction. "He's the deposed captain of Fifth Division. Didn't you know?"

"Oh. No." She frowned at the toothy figure across the board. "I just thought he was some strange student at school."

"Oh, no. He's much more. At least, he used to be much more." He looked to the courtyard wall behind her, and then back down to the board. "Take the first move, Orihime."

Gin looked to her. "Aren't you wondering what he's wagering, Orihime-chan?"

"Oh?" She looked to Aizen as her hand hovered over Ikkaku in her front row. "What do you wager?"

"Good question. What do you want?" Aizen asked.

Her brown eyes fell to the scarf. "Well..."

Then her eyes opened wider in realization. If she asked for him to wager her hairpins -- and she won -- he would know they were gone, and she didn't think he knew she already had them. If she didn't ask for her hairpins, he'd be suspicious. If she asked for her hairpins, and she didn't win, he may --

"You've lost interest in your barrettes?" he asked, watching her consider the scarf, noting her face was devoid of color suddenly.

"No. No. Do you have them?" she asked carefully, not looking at Gin, but feeling his amused stare.

"Not here, but yes. Is that what you want?" Aizen asked, studying her hesitation.

"Well, yes. My hairpins. Please."

He nodded. "I wager your barrettes, Orihime. I'll have them brought out, if you win."

She sighed, nodding, hearing Gin chuckle at her discomfort. She didn't look at him, but moved Ikkaku two spaces forward.

"Why won't you let Momo-san move?"

Aizen gave her the bland smile that had brought him to the position of power he currently held. "Because she's weak." He moved Risa one space diagonally.

"You think Hirako-san is weak, too?"

"I know Hirako is weak."

She frowned, moving Hanatarou from black space to black space. Across from the table he looked up, his gaze going to the wall behind her, and then she heard it, too. Very faintly, from afar, but undeniably a low _something_, like the drone that she'd heard before.

Aizen looked back to her, and then moved Nell two spaces forward. "It looks like Gin will have to finish this game with you." He stood, looking to his lieutenant. "You'll do that?"

"Yep. That I will."

"Until next time, Orihime," Aizen said to her as a white robed attendant hastened to the dais step.

"Yes," she said as Aizen followed the smaller form out of sight. She looked to Gin, but he made no move to sit opposite her.

"You almost messed up there, Orihime-chan," he said, grinning at her uneasiness. "You weren't going to ask for your hairclips."

"I didn't know if he knew I had them," she said slowly.

"I know you didn't."

She frowned at him, then flinched as he reached across the table for the green glass pitcher. He poured two of the three goblets full of the liquid and set one before her.

"Drink up."

She looked at the mild yellow juice, smelling apricots and oranges. "It's his turn. Your turn."

"No. It's your turn to move."

"Oh." She looked at the board, and slid Hitsugaya two spaces.

He sat back in the cushions, then put one hand on the odachi hilt, setting the sword across his knees.

Inoue watched the movement, the blood running colder through her veins. "It's your turn to move."

"Oh, I know." But he didn't take his turn.

She waited, returning his attention, unsure about the line of a grin on his face. He looked to the perimeter wall as another low alarm sounded from a different direction.

She looked to the wall, then back to the game.

"You were smart enough not to wear the clips. I'm surprised."

She frowned at him. "Why did you give them to me if I'm not supposed to have them?"

He smiled slowly. "Why not?"

Her eyes went back to the game. "It's still your turn, Ichimaru-sama."

"You remember how all the pieces move?"

"Yes."

"You remember how the third seateds move?"

She looked to the figurines of Isshin and Hitsugaya. "Yes."

"How?"

"Forward two and one to the side, or forward one and two to the side."

"Forward two and one to the side."

She shook her head, pointing to the obsidian Hitsugaya. "But also --"

"Forward two and one to the side; that's all you need to remember, Orihime-chan. Okay?" He leaned forward, resting his elbows across the odachi on his knees.

"Okay." She looked at him with confusion.

"Do you know how Zaraki can move?"

"Yes. Two forward and two to the side, which is also two diagonally."

"And yourself?"

"Me?" She frowned.

He sighed. "The queens. Do you know how the queens move?"

"Yes. Oh, no." She thought for a moment. "Yes. In a straight line forward, all the way."

"Yep. Remember that, Orihime-chan," he said, the humor absent from his tone, the smile set grimly. "It's Hitsugaya, Zaraki, and queen. Say it."

She wrinkled her face at him. "Say what?"

"Weren't you listening?" He looked to the courtyard wall as the low tone increased in volume, but still barely audible in the grassy yard.

"What is that noise?"

He looked back to her. "Say it."

"Zaraki, queen, and --"

"No. Hitsugaya, Zaraki, and queen. It's important to remember the order. Now say it."

She nodded slowly. "Hitsugaya, Zaraki, and queen."

"Good."

She looked to the game. "It's your turn still."

He shook his head.

"You're not going to play?"

"Not my game."

Her fingers closed into a ball. "You told Aizen-sama you'd play."

He shrugged. "I tell him a lot of things." He nodded to her goblet. "Drink up. It's almost time."

Her hand was halfway to the glass. It paused as she looked to him. "Time for what?"

"Drink up."

She nodded and drank half the fruity juice, the sweet taste seeming too thick in her mouth. She set the goblet down, yelping a little when Gin stood up suddenly.

He sighed, shaking his head. "Let's get you going."

Inoue rose, then stooped to pick a peach from the red glass bowl. "Can I take this?"

"He prefers apples."

"Oh." She traded the peach for an apple. She looked at the scarf, and then took it, too.

She walked ahead of him down the steps, noting that he hadn't put the odachi in its scabbard yet, the hilt in his hand, his eyes on the perimeter walls. She kept waiting for the sword point to etch into her back, but it didn't. She found herself holding her breath by the time they got to the door, and remembered to breathe again.

"Why was I moved, Ichimaru-sama?" she asked as he reached for the door latch.

He didn't open the door yet. "Are you sure you were?"

"Yes."

He nodded, the grin returning as he opened the door. "You want them to find you, don't you?"

The words caught her by surprise, shaking her composure. "What did you say?"

"You heard me, Orihime-chan." He looked into the hall at Ulquiorra standing there. "Take her back, Number Four."

The door shut behind Inoue and she walked beside Ulquiorra down the twisting corridors back to her room, Gin's words replaying on her mind. She must have heard wrong, she told herself. _He couldn't have meant what I think, _she thought. _It's another game. It has to be._

Ulquiorra paused as they turned the corner, seeing Aizen, Grimmjow and two other Espada at the end of the hall they turned down. The group looked to them, but didn't break off their conversation.

A chill went up Inoue's spine at the sight of Aizen in his altered robes, his hair slicked back, minus the glasses now. She hurried on beside Ulquiorra as he quickened their pace, moving them out of the hall.

It took five minutes to get back to her room, and once there Ulquiorra shut the door quietly, his face more concerned than she'd ever seen him.

"Did you have your game today?"

She nodded, frowning at him. "Sort of."

She handed him the apple. He sighed, smiling slightly, and took it.

"Thank you very much, Inoue."

He remained at her side as she looked to her clothes folded neatly on the couch. His attention went to the window high above them, her eyes following. The moon hung in a delicate thin arch outside, bright in the dark skies, without a star to dilute its glow.

For a long moment they stared at the calm skies, the alarm still a hushed drone in the distance. She looked down at his fingers as they slid down her arm, hooking behind her wrist, pressing into her palm. She looked to him with surprise.

"You smell like sunflowers. Did you know that, Orihime?"

She shook her head slowly, eyes locked on his.

He nodded, his attention falling to her lips. "You do." He looked to the door. "Remember how the pieces move."

"Oh, yes..."

He nodded and crossed the room. She watched him leave out the door, confused. She looked back to her clothes on the couch as the door shut. She sighed, deciding it was the standard four minutes.

But there wasn't time to start changing. She'd barely retrieved the hairpins from the bootlet when she heard a commotion in the hall outside, followed by shouts, and then the door flung open.

She recoiled as the door hit the wall, and then smiled as Ichigo stood in the doorway, looking back at her in surprise.

No words left her mouth, only a small gasp.

For a moment he just stared at her, his eyes traveling over the varying shades of blue from her halter to her feet.

"Holy cow ..." he said, remembering to grip his katana tighter as he looked her over again. More shouts came from outside in the hall, and he turned, but didn't take his eyes from her. "She's in here!"

"Kurosaki-kun!"

He wasn't ready for the impact of blue that flung into him, wrapping arms around his black robes, bringing more than a grunt from him. He hugged her back, crushing her soft form close, her hair fragrant, that wickedly hard forehead embedded under his chin.

For a moment he didn't let her go, until he heard footsteps behind him, and then he held her at arms length, smiling back at her beaming face.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes!"

He dodged the quick bow she made.

Ishida and Renji crowded into the doorway behind him, both staring back at Inoue.

"Whoa! What the hell is all this?" Renji asked, gawking at several spots on her.

"Be nice," Ishida said, his own eyes glued to her. A livid shade of red flushed over his face. "Where are your hairpins, Orihime?"

"Oh." She opened her hand to reveal the hairpins. She quickly clipped them into her hair, smiling.

Ishida nodded. "That's better."

"Come on," Ichigo said, prodding the other two men when they stood there gaping. His hand closed over Inoue's as he moved to the door. "Let's get out of here."

They stepped into the hall, the alarms in the distance now growing louder. Ichigo looked to each end of the hall, spotting Ulquiorra standing at the intersection at one side.

"I'll take care of him," Renji said, his hand on his sword hilt when the Espada looked to them.

But Ulquiorra didn't move. He stood his ground, watching the four of them, his hand on the hilt of his sword still at his waist.

"What? He doesn't want to fight?" Renji frowned at the unmoving Espada that merely watched them.

Ichigo scowled, then looked the opposite way. "That's the way we came in, but I don't know if we can get back out --"

"I know the way out," Inoue said.

They all looked to her. She nodded. "I know the moves."

Ishida glanced to the Espada. "Why is he just standing there?"

Inoue looked to Ulquiorra, his somber expression clear to her, even at the distance. "He's waiting for us to leave."

Ichigo shook his head. "He's _what_?"

"Let's go," Renji said, moving off down the opposite hall.

Ichigo pulled Inoue with him as they followed after, with Ishida falling into step behind them.

She glanced back as they left, seeing Ulquiorra still standing at the intersection of halls.

He raised a hand in farewell, and she made a quick wave in return, as they made the first turn around the corner.

* * *

**A/N:** That's it! Finished! I also write under the penname _Renji's Girll_ on this site. Thank you so much for reading (and reviewing!) Thank you especially to morningmusumefangirl, sonia, jazzpha, Arrancar-Baka, blueyeInali, Vi, Artificial Life Creator, Maziana, jayemmpee, Meng-4-2, wingybing, Samebito Ryu, redseraph, HK-Revan, Saritenite, Pentatonikk, ilovethefray, and all the rest of you!


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